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AMERICAN    ORATORY 
OF  TO-DAY 


EDITED  BY 

edwin  Dubois  shurter 

ASSOCIATE  PROFESSOR  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS 


HINDS,  NOBLE    &   ELDREDGE 
30  Irving  Place  New  York  City 


Copyright,  iqio,  by 
Edwin  DuBois  Shurter 


PREFACE 

( 

This  work  differs  from  most  collations  of  oratorical 
selections  in  two  particulars:  first,  it  is  truly  American, 
—  representative  of  all  parts  of  the  country;  secondly, 
the  addresses  are  by  present-day  speakers,  on  live  sub- 
jects. Hence,  there  will  be  found  herein  many  names 
not  heretofore  included  in  books  of  this  nature,  and  the 
speeches  furnish  an  instructive  and  suggestive  exposition 
of  contemporary  thought  on  various  subjects. 

The  book  is  intended  for  the  citizen  who  is  interested 
in  the  public  discussion  of  questions  of  the  day,  and 
for  teachers  and  students  in  our  schools  and  colleges 
who  are  looking  for  new,  up-to-date  declamations. 

A  fuller  representation  of  American  public  speakers 
will  be  given  in  subsequent  volumes;  and  to  this  end, 
the  editor  would  be  glad  to  receive  suggestions  as  to 
speakers  not  included  in  the  present  volume. 

E.  D.  S. 

The  University  of  Texas, 
September,  1910. 


305744 


CONTENTS 

(For  an  Index  of  Speakers  see  page  n) 

PAGE 

Hugo  Grottus  and  International  Peace  .  Andrew  D.White  15 

*A  Pan-American  Policy Elihu  Root  18 

Insurgent  Republicanism      ....    Albert  J.  Beveridge  20 

The  Law's  Delays William  H.  Taft  23 

>The  Elements  of  Good  Citizenship    .     Theodore  Roosevelt  27- 

The  Duty  of  Enthusiasm     .     .     .     .  M .  Woolsey  Stryker  &<jt 

The  Apostle  of  a  New  Idea     .     .     .     Herbert  S.  Bigelow  32 
On  the  Murder  of  American  Citizens 

in  Nicaragua Isador  Rayner  34 

What  Is  a  Good  Man? Edward  A.  Ross  37 

-The  Leadership  of  Educated  Men     .     .  Stephen  S.  Wise  40  ■ 

The  Atlantic  Fleet  in  the  Pacific    .      .  James  N.  Gillett  42 

The  American  Navy Victor  H.  Metcalf  44 

The  Initiative  of  the  President  ....  Emory  S peer  46 

California  and  William  H.  Taft  .     .       George  A .  Knight  49 

William  H.  Taft  for  President     .     .   Theodore  E.  Burton  52 

William  J.  Bryan  for  President  .     .     .     Ollie  M.  James  54 
The  Republican  and  the  Democratic 

Parties Henry  Cabot  Lodge  57  - 

"Stand  Pat,"  Socialism,  and  Democracy  .  Morris  Sheppard  60 

Populism Thomas  E.  Watson  63 

Socialism Eugene  V.  Debs  66 

Americanism Guy  Carleton  Lee  68 

Social  Idealism Shatter  Mathews  70 

The  New  Patriotism Ray  Stannard  Baker  71 

From  the  Top  of  the  Washington 

Monument Henry  B.  F.  MacFarland  74 

The  Confederate  Soldier     .     .     .      John  Sharp  Williams  77 

The  Union  Soldier John  M.  Thurston  80 

The  Boy  and  the  Juvenile  Court      .     .    Ben  B.  Lindsey  83 

Neighbors  Needed Jacob  Riis  86 

America's  Future  Rulers     ....    Russell  H.  Conwell  88 

5 


4- 


\ 


6  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

^Progressive  America Andrew  S.  Draper  gi 

The  Torch  of  Civilization  .     .     .       Thomas  Nelson  Page  92 

Faith  in  Mankind Arthur  T.  Hadley  94 

Our  Duty  to  the  English  Tongue     .     .    John  H.  Finley  96 

The  Protection  of  American  Citizens       William  P.  Frye  98 

Freemasonry George  W.  Atkinson  101 

Industrial  Freedom Robert  M.  La  Follette  103 

Elements  of  Success  in  Business  .  .  Andrew  Carnegie  105 
The  Minuteman  of  the  American 

Revolution Charles  J.  Bonaparte  107 

King's    Mountain  —  Its    Meaning 

and  Message Henry  N.  Snyder  109 

A  Plea  for  American  Drama    ....    Percy  MacKaye  112 

The  Louisiana  Purchase       .     .     .      Newton  C.  Blanchard  114 

The  Challenge  of  the  Sky-Line   .     .     .  Walter  Williams  116 

Moral  Vision '.     .     .  John  A.Rice  117 

The  Star-Spangled  Banner Henry  Watterson  120 

The  Flag  of  the  Union  ....       William  H.  Fleming  123 

The  Coherent  Life Bliss  Perry  126 

Commercialism  and  Idealism      .     .     .    Francis  G.  Peabody  129 

Lake  Champlain  in  Retrospect      Wendell  Phillips  Stafford  131 

Our  Duty  to  Posterity William  M.  Sloane  134 

The  Conservation  of  the  States  .  .  Edward  T.  Taylor  136 
Natural  Resources  and   Special 

Interests Gifford  Pinchot  139 

Water-Power  and  the  "Interests"    .      James  R.Garfield  141 

In  West  Virginia Ira  E.  Robinson  143 

Virginia Clifton  W.  Bransford  145 

Utah William  Spry  146 

"Old  Kentucky  Home" William  0.  Bradley  149 

Washington  and  Lincoln      ....   Martin  W.  Littleton  150 

The  Personality  of  Lincoln     .     .    Richard  Watson  Gilder  153 

Reminiscences  of  Lincoln      ....      Joseph  G.  Cannon  155 

Abraham  Lincoln Frank  W.  Benson  158 

Tribute  to  McKinley Hoke  Smith  161 

Eulogy  of  Robert  E.  Lee  ....  Charles  E.  Fenner  162 
Robert  E.  Lee  and  Washington 

College Thomas  J.  Kernan  165 


CONTENTS  7 


PAGE 


Tribute  to  Jefferson  Davis      ....  Dunbar  Rowland  167 

Jefferson  Davis  and  Mississippi    .     .     .     Thomas  Spight  170 
The  Haywood  Trial:  Plea  for 

the  Defense Clarence  S.  Darrow  173 

The  Haywood  Trial:  Plea  for 

the  Prosecution William  E.  Borah  177 

Damage  Suits  and  the  Law       .     .     .  William  S.  Cowherd  180 

The  Lawyer  in  American  History  .   Frederick  W.  Lehmann  182 

Unanimity  in  Verdicts  of  Juries  .     .   Hiram  M.  Garwood  185 

Trial  by  Jury Delphin  M.  Delmas  187 

The  Profession  of  the  Law      .     .     .      Presley  K.  Ewing  189 

The  Equipment  of  the  Lawyer      .     .  George  W.  Kirchwey  191 

Attorney  and  Client       .     .     .     .      F.  Charles  Hume,  Jr.  194 

The  "Given-Up"  Man      ....  Maud  Ballington  Booth  196 

The  Brotherhood  and  Home  Missions    .     William  Rader  198 

"In  God  We  Trust" Washington  Gardner  201 

Victories  of  Christianity     ....  Newell  Dwight  Hillis  203 

Sanitation  and  Religion       .     .     .    Joseph  A.  McCullough  205 

The  Catholic  Church James  Gibbons  207 

The  New  Religion Charles  W.  Eliot  210 

"The  New  Religion":  A  Criticism      Charles  H.  Parkhurst  213 
The  Practise  of  Immortality    .     .     .  Washington  Gladden  216 
The   Bible   and  the  Twentieth- 
Century  Man Frank  W.  Gunsaulus  218 

Christianity  is  Real William  H.  P.  Faunce  220 

Without  God  is  Nothing Ballington  Booth  223 

Our  Country  and  the  World  ....       Josiah  Strong  226 

International  Arbitration  and  Peace     Richard  Bartholdt  228 

World  Peacb Seth  Low  231 

The  National  Defense    ....       Richmond  P.  Hobson  232 

On  Raising  the  Battle-Ship  "Maine"  Frank  M.  Nye  235 

A  Free  Press  and  Free  Paper.      .      .      .    Thomas  P.  Gore  236 

American  Citizenship       ......       John  D.  Long  239 

Swollen  Fortunes  and  the  Taxation 

of  Inheritances Joseph  M.  Dixon  241 

The  Legislator  and  the  Popular  Will  .     Frank  S.  Black  244 

Overcome  Evil  with  Good Henry  Van  Dyke  246 

The  Trust  and  the  Consumer  ....  Robert  L.  Henry  249 


8  CONTENTS 

FA«E 

The  Christian  Use  of  Wealth      .   William  De  Witt  Hyde  251 

Leadership  in  a  Democracy      .     .     .  Harry  Pratt  Judson  253 

Good  Citizenship St.  Clair  McKelway  256 

The  New  Politics Jacob  Gould  Schurman  258 

Democracy Nicholas  Murray  Butler  261* 

Our  Constitutional  System       .      William  Bourke  Cochran  264 

Irish  Influence  in  America      .     .     .    Wallace  McCamant  266 

A  Message  from  Ireland     ....      Frank  J.  Sullivan  269 

Suffrage  for  Women Anna  H.  Shaw  270 

Woman  and  the  Suffrage Lyman  Abbott  272 

The  Girl  in  the  Kitchen John  H.  Vincent  275 

America's  Uncrowned  Queen    .     .     .      Homer  T.  Wilson  277 

Earnestness  and  Thoroughness     .     .     .      Leon  Harrison  278 
The     ' '  Insurgent  "     Republicans  : 

A  Reply  to  Speaker  Cannon    .     .    Albert  B.  Cummins  281 
Against  the  Payne-Aldrich  Tariff 

Bill Jonathan  P.  Dolliver  283 

Tribute  to  Governor  John  A. 

Johnson Charles  Evans  Hughes  286 

William  of  Orange-Nassau:  The  Great 

Moderate  Man  in  History      .      William  Elliot  Grifjis  290 

England's  "Grand  Old  Man"  .     .  Samuel Parkes Cadman  293 

Shakespeare  the  Unapproachable       Edward  H.  Randolph  296 

Tribute  to  John  B.  Allen Thomas  Burke  299 

Edgar  Allan  Poe Whitelaw  Reid  301 

Julius  Cesar  and  John  Calvin      .  Henry  M.  MacCracken  303 

The  Greatness  of  John  Marshall     .     .       Richard  Olney  306 

Eulogy  of  William  B.  Allison      .     .     .  John  W.  Daniel  308 

Alexander  Hamilton Joseph  H.  Choate  310 

"Lee's  Old  War  Horse:  Lieutenant- 

General  James  Longstreet  .     .     Lucian  Lamar  Knight  313 

Eulogy  of  David  A.  DeArmond     .     .  William  P.  Borland  316 

Eulogy  of  Anselm  J.  McLaurin    .     .  William  A.  Dickson  319 

The  Pilgrim  Faith Charles  F.  Aked  321 

The    Permanence    of    Puritan 

Principles Stewart  L.  Woodford  324 

Puritan  and  Cavalier Dudley  G.  Wooten  326 

Puritan  and  Catholic     .     .     .     William  Henry  O'Connell  329 


CONTENTS  9 

PAGE 

North  Dakota  and  Inland  Waterways  .     .    John  Burke  331 

Peary  and  the  Pole Simeon  Ford  334 

The  Assimilated  Dutchman       ....       Horace  Porter  335 

t-AT  Threescore  and  Ten Mark  Twain  338 

Texas  and  her  Founders Champ  Clark  340 

The  Battle-Shd?  Texas Charles  A .  Culberson  343 

Texas  —  Undivided  and  Indivisible    .      Joseph  W.  Bailey  345 

Patriotism  and  the  South James  B.  Clark  347 

Tribute  to  James  B.  Clark       .     .    George  Pierce  Garrison  349 

The  University  —  A  Sacred  Trust     Thomas  Ulvan  Taylor  352 

Invasion  of  the  North  by  the  South    .  Jacob  M.  Dickinson  354 

The  "Soldd  South" Charles  W.  Dabney  358 

The  Blue  and  the  Gray Robert  L.  Taylor  360 

The  Spirit  of  the  South      ....  Edwin  A.  Alderman  362. 

The  Civil  War  —  and  After     .     .William  Gordon  McCabe  364^ 

The  Civil  War  in  Retrospect        .   Robert  W.  McLaughlin  367 

Appomattox  and  the  Age      ....    Samuel  C.  Mitchell  369 

'    Old  Ideals  and  the  Old  South      .     .   Henry  Louis  Smith  371- 

The  Contact  of  Minds Woodrow  Wilson  373  — 

The  University  and  Petty  Politics     Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler  375 

Our  Country's  Need  of  Educated  Men    William  F.  Webster  377 

Three  Tests  of  Education E.  Erie  Sparks  380 

Education  and  Service James  H.  Baker  382 

Education  and  Responsibility  .     .     .  Harry  Noble  Wilson  384 
American    and    Educational 

Expansion George  Edwin  MacLefrn  386 

The  Muck-Raker Julius  Kakn  389 

Progressive  Republicanism  ....      Miles  Poindexter  392 

American  City  Government       ....    Brand  Whitlock  394 

Tribute  to  General  Lew  Wallace    .    Henry  A.Bar  nhart  396 

John  C.  Calhoun Asbury  F.  Lever  399 

Scdxntific  Farming Irving  Bacheller  402 

The  Battle  for  Righteousness      .     .      Edgar  Y.  Mullins  403 

The  Prince  of  Peace William  J.  Bryan  405 


INDEX   OF   SPEAKERS 


PAGE 

Abbott,  Lyman 

272 
321 
362 

Aked,  Charles  F 

Alderman,  Edwin  A 

Atkinson,  George  W 

101 

Bailey,  Joseph  W 

345 

Baker,  James  H 

382 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard 

7i 

Barnhart,  Henry  A 

396 

Bartholdt,  Richard 

228 

Benson,  Frank  W 

158 

Beveridge,  Albert  J 

20 

Bigelow,  Herbert  S 

32 

Black,  Frank  S 

244 
114 

Blanchard,  Newton  C.  . . . 

Bonaparte,  Charles  J 

107 

Booth,  Ballington 

223 

Booth,  Maud  Ballington . . 

196 

Borah,  William  E 

177 

Borland,  William  P 

3i6 

Bradley,  William  0 

149 

Bransford,  Clifton  W 

145 

Bryan,  William  J 

405 

Burke,  John 

33i 

Burke,  Thomas  

299 
52 

Burton,  Theodore  E 

Butler,  Nicholas  Murray. . 

261 

Cadman,  Samuel  Parkes   . 

293 

Cannon,  Joseph  G 

155 

Carnegie,  Andrew 

105 

PAGE 

Choate,  Joseph  H 310 

Clark,  Champ   340 

Clark,  James  B 347 

Cockran,  William  Bourke. .  264 

Conwell,  Russell  H 88 

Cowherd,  William  S 180 

Culberson,  Charles  A 343 

Cummins,  Albert  B 281 

Dabney,  Charles  W 358 

Daniel,  John  W 308 

Darrow,  Clarence  S 173 

Debs,  Eugene  V.  66 

Delmas,  Delphin  M 187 

Dickinson,  Jacob  M 354 

Dickson,  William  A 319 

Dixon,  Joseph  M 241 

Doiliver,  Jonathan  P 283 

Draper,  Andrew  S 91 

Eliot,  Charles  W 210 

Ewing,  Presley  K 189 

Faunce,  William  H.  P 220 

Fenner,  Charles  E 162 

Finley,  John  H 96 

Fleming,  William  H 123 

Ford,  Simeon 334 

Frye,  William  P 98 

Gardner,  Washington 201 

Garfield,  James  R 141 


11 


12 


INDEX  OF  SPEAKERS 


Garrison,  George  Pierce. .  349 

Garwood,  Hiram  M 185 

Gibbons,  James 207 

Gilder,  Richard  Watson  . .  153 

Gillett,  James  N 42 

Gladden,  Washington 216 

Gore,  Thomas  P 236 

Griffis,  William  Elliot  ....  290 

Gunsaulus,  Frank  W 218 

Hadley,  Arthur  T 94 

Harrison,  Leon 278 

Henry,  Robert  L 249 

Hillis,  Newell  Dwight 203 

Hobson,  Richmond  P.    . . .  232 

Hughes,  Charles  Evans  . . .  286 

Hume,  F.  Charles,  Jr 194 

Hyde,  William  De  Witt  ..  251 

James,  Ollie  M 54 

Judson,  Harry  Pratt 253 

Kahn,  Julius 389 

Kernan,  Thomas  J 165 

Kirchwey,  George  W 191 

Knight,  George  A 49 

Knight,  Lucian  Lamar. . .  313 

La  Follette,  Robert  M.    . .  103 

Lee,  Guy  Carleton    68 

Lehmann,  Frederick  W.  . .  182 

Lever,  Asbury  F 399 

Lindsey,  Ben  B 83 

Littleton,  Martin  W 150 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot 57 

Long,  John  D 239 

Low,  S     I 231 


PAGB 

MacCracken,  Henry  M.  . .  303 

MacFarland,  Henry  B.  F. .  74 

MacKaye,  Percy 112 

MacLean,  George  Edwin.  386 

Mathews,  Shailer 70 

McCabe,  William  Gordon.  364 

McCamant,  Wallace 266 

McCullough,  Joseph  A.   . .  205 

McKelway,  St.  Clair 256 

McLaughlin,  Robert  W.  . .  367 

Metcalf,  Victor  H 44 

Mitchell,  Samuel  C 369 

Mullins,  Edgar  Y 403 

Nye,  Frank  M 235 

O'Connell,  William  Henry  329 

Olney,  Richard   306 

Page,  Thomas  Nelson 92 

Parkhurst,  Charles  H.    . . .  213 

Peabody,  Francis  W 1 29 

Perry,  Bliss 126 

Pinchot,  Gifford 139 

Poindexter,  Miles 392 

Porter,  Horace 335 

Rader,  William   198 

Randolph,  Edward  H.   . . .  296 

Raynor,  Isador    34 

Reid,  Whitelaw 301 

Rice,  John  A 117 

Riis,  Jacob 86 

Robinson,  Ira  E 143 

Roosevelt,  Theodore 27 

Root,  Elihu 18 


INDEX  OF  SPEAKERS 


13 


PAGE 

Ross,  Edward  A 37 

Rowland,  Dunbar    167 

Schurman,  Jacob  Gould  . .  258 

Shaw,  Anna  H 270 

Sheppard,  Morris    60 

Sloane,  William  M 134 

Smith,  Henry  Louis   371 

Smith,  Hoke 161 

Snyder,  Henry  N 109 

Sparks,  E.  Erie   380 

Speer,  Emory 46 

Spight,  Thomas 170 

Spry,  William 146 

Stafford,  Wendell  Phillips  131 

Strong,  Josiah 226 

Stryker,  M.  Woolsey    29 

Sullivan,  Frank  J 269 

Taft,  William  H 23 

Taylor,  Edward  T 136 

Taylor,  Robert  L 360 


PAGE 

Taylor,  Thomas  Ulvan  ...  352 

Thurston,  John  M 80 

Twain,  Mark 338 

Van  Dyke,  Henry 246 

Vincent,  John  H 275 

Watson,  Thomas  E 63 

Watterson,  Henry 120 

Webster,  William  F 377 

White,  Andrew  D 15 

Whitlock,  Brand 394 

Wheeler,  Benjamin  Ide    . .  375 

Williams,  John  Sharp 77 

Williams,  WTalter 116 

Wilson,  Harry  Noble   384 

Wilson,  Homer  T 277 

Wilson,  Woodrow   373 

Wise,  Stephen  S 40 

Woodford,  Stewart  L 324 

Wooten,  Dudley  G 326 


AMERICAN   ORATORY 
OF  TO-DAY 

HUGO  GROTIUS  AND  INTERNATIONAL  PEACE 

ANDREW  D.   WHITE 

Ex-President  of  Cornell  University,  and  former  United  States 
Minister  to  Russia  and  to  Germany 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  by  Mr.  White,  as  President  of 
the  American  Delegation  at  The  Hague  Conference,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Grotius  celebration  at  Delft,  The  Netherlands,  July  4,  1899. 
The  address  was  delivered  in  the  cathedral  of  the  city,  in  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  the  monuments  of  William  of  Orange  and  of  Hugo 
Grotius.  This  address,  and  those  by  Senators  Root  and  Beveridge 
which  follow,  may  well  be  noted  as  epoch-making  speeches.) 

This  is  the  ancient  and  honored  city  of  Delft.  From 
its  haven,  not  distant,  sailed  the  Mayflower — bearing  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  who,  in  a  time  of  obstinate  and  bitter 
persecution,  brought  to  the  American  continent  the  germs 
of  that  toleration  which  had  been  especially  developed 
among  them  during  their  stay  in  The  Netherlands,  and 
of  which  Hugo  Grotius  was  an  apostle.  In  this  town 
Grotius  was  born;  in  this  temple  he  worshiped;  this 
pavement  he  trod  when  a  child;  often  were  these  scenes 
revisited  by  him  in  his  boyhood;  at  his  death  his  mortal 
body  was  placed  in  this  hallowed  ground.  Time  and 
place,  then,  would  both  seem  to  make  this  tribute  fitting. 

My  honored  colleagues  and  friends,  more  than  once 
x5 


16  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

I  have  come  as  a  pilgrim  to  this  sacred  shrine.  In  my 
young  manhood,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  and  at 
various  times  since,  I  have  sat  here  and  reflected  upon 
what  these  mighty  men,  here  entombed,  have  done  for 
the  world,  and  what,  though  dead,  they  yet  speak  to 
mankind.    I  seem  to  hear  them  still. 

From  this  tomb  of  William  the  Silent  comes,  in  this 
hour,  a  voice  bidding  the  Peace  Conference  be  brave,  and 
true,  and  trustful  in  that  Power  in  the  universe  which 
works  for  righteousness. 

From  this  tomb  of  Grotius  I  seem  to  hear  a  voice  which 
says  to  us  as  the  delegates  of  the  nations:  "Go  on  with 
your  mighty  work;  avoid,  as  you  would  avoid  the  germs 
of  pestilence,  those  exhalations  of  international  hatred 
which  take  shape  in  monstrous  fallacies  and  morbid 
fictions  regarding  alleged  antagonistic  interests.  Guard 
well  the  treasures  of  civilization  with  which  each  of  you 
is  entrusted;  but  bear  in  mind  that  you  hold  a  mandate 
from  humanity.  Go  on  with  your  work.  Pseudo-phi- 
losophers will  prophesy  malignantly  against  you;  pessi- 
mists will  laugh  you  to  scorn;  cynics  will  sneer  at  you; 
zealots  will  abuse  you  for  what  you  have  not  done;  sub- 
limely unpractical  thinkers  will  revile  you  for  what  you 
have  done;  ephemeral  critics  will  ridicule  you  as  dupes; 
enthusiasts,  blind  to  the  difficulties  in  your  path  and  to 
everything  outside  their  little  circumscribed  fields,  will 
denounce  you  as  traitors  to  humanity.  Heed  them  not; 
go  on  with  your  work.  Heed  not  the  clamor  of  zealots, 
or  cynics,  or  pessimists,  or  pseudo-philosophers,  or  enthu- 
siasts, or  fault-finders.  Go  on  with  the  work  of  strength- 
ening peace  and  humanizing  war;  give  greater  scope  and 
strength  to  provisions  which  will  make  war  less  cruel; 


ANDREW  D.  WHITE  17 

perfect  those  laws  of  war  which  diminish  the  unmerited 
sufferings  of  populations;  and,  above  all,  give  to  the 
world  at  least  a  beginning  of  an  effective,  practicable 
scheme  of  arbitration." 

These  are  the  words  which  an  American  seems  to 
hear  issuing  from  this  shrine  to-day;  and  I  seem  also 
to  hear  from  it  a  prophecy.  I  seem  to  hear  Grotius 
saying  to  us:  "Fear  neither  opposition  nor  detraction. 
As  my  own  book,  which  grew  out  of  the  horrors  of  the 
Wars  of  Seventy  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  contained 
the  germ  from  which  your  great  Conference  has  grown, 
so  your  work,  which  is  demanded  by  a  world  bent  almost 
to  breaking  under  the  weight  of  ever-increasing  arma- 
ments, shall  be  a  germ  from  which  future  Conferences 
shall  evolve  plans  ever  fuller,  better,  and  nobler."  And 
I  also  seem  to  hear  a  message  from  him  to  the  jurists 
of  the  great  universities  who  honor  us  with  their  pres- 
ence to-day,  including  especially  that  renowned  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden,  which  gave  to  Grotius  his  first  knowledge 
of  the  law,  and  that  eminent  University  of  Konigsberg, 
which  gave  him  his  most  philosophical  disciple — to  all  of 
these  I  seem  to  hear  him  say,  "Go  on  in  your  labor  to 
search  out  the  facts  and  to  develop  the  principles  which 
shall  enable  future  Conferences  to  build  more  and  more 
broadly,  more  and  more  loftily  for  peace." 


18  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


A  PAN-AMERICAN  POLICY 

ELfflU  ROOT 

United  States  Senator  from  New  York,  former  Secretary  of  War, 
and  Secretary  of  State 

(Extract  from  his  address  at  the  Pan-American  Conference  held 
at  Rio  Janeiro,  South  America,  1906.) 

No  nation  can  live  unto  itself  alone  and  continue  to 
live.  Each  nation's  growth  is  a  part  of  the  development 
of  the  race.  There  may  be  leaders  and  there  may  be 
laggards,  but  no  nation  can  long  continue  very  far  in 
advance  of  the  general  progress  of  mankind,  and  no 
nation  that  is  not  doomed  to  extinction  can  remain  very 
far  behincL  It  is  with  nations  as  it  is  with  individual 
men;  intercourse,  association,  correction  of  egotism  by 
the  influence  of  others'  judgment,  broadening  of  views 
by  the  experience  and  thought  of  equals,  acceptance  of 
the  moral  standards  of  a  community  the  desire  for  whose 
good  opinion  lends  a  sanction  to  the  rules  of  right  con- 
duct, —  these  are  the  conditions  of  growth  in  civiliza- 
tion. A  people  whose  minds  are  not  open  to  the  lessons 
of  the  world's  progress,  whose  spirits  are  not  stirred  by 
the  aspirations  and  the  achievements  of  humanity  strug- 
gling the  world  over  for  liberty  and  justice,  must  be 
left  behind  by  civilization,  in  its  steady  and  beneficent 
advance. 

These  beneficent  results  the  Government  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America  greatly  desire. 
We  wish  for  no  victories  but  those  of  peace;  for  no  terri- 
tory except  our  own;  for  no  sovereignty  except  the  sov- 


ELIHU  ROOT  19 

ereignty  over  ourselves.  We  deem  the  independence  and 
equal  rights  of  the  smallest  and  weakest  member  of  the 
family  of  nations  entitled  to  as  much  respect  as  those  of 
the  greatest  empire,  and  we  deem  the  observance  of  that 
respect  the  chief  guaranty  of  the  weak  against  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  strong.  We  neither  claim  nor  desire  any 
rights,  or  privileges,  or  powers  that  we  do  not  freely  con- 
cede to  every  American  republic.  We  wish  to  increase 
our  prosperity,  to  expand  our  trade,  to  grow  in  wealth, 
in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit,  but  our  conception  of  the  true 
way  to  accomplish  this  is  not  to  pull  down  others  and 
profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help  all  friends  to  a  common 
prosperity  and  a  common  growth,  that  we  may  all  become 
greater  and  stronger  together. 

Let  us  help  each  other  to  show  that  for  all  the  races 
of  men  the  Liberty  for  which  we  have  fought  and  labored 
is  the  twin  sister  of  Justice  and  Peace!  Let  us  unite 
in  creating  and  maintaining  and  making  effective  an  all- 
American  public  opinion,  whose  power  shall  influence 
international  conduct  and  prevent  international  wrong, 
and  narrow  the  causes  of  war,  and  forever  preserve  our 
free  lands  from  the  burden  of  such  armaments  as  are 
massed  behind  the  frontiers  of  Europe,  and  bring  us 
ever  nearer  to  the  perfection  of  ordered  liberty.  So 
shall  come  security  and  prosperity,  production  and  trade, 
wealth,  learning,  the  arts,  and  happiness  for  us  all. 

Not  in  a  single  conference,  nor  by  a  single  effort,  can 
very  much  be  done.  You  labor  more  for  the  future 
than  for  the  present;  but  if  the  right  impulse  be  given, 
if  the  right  tendency  be  established,  the  work  you  do 
here  will  go  on  among  all  the  millions  of  people  in  the 
American  continents  long  after  your  final  adjournment, 


20  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

long  after  your  lives,  with  incalculable  benefit  to  all 
our  beloved  countries,  which  may  it  please  God  to 
continue  free  and  independent  and  happy  for  ages  to 
come. 


INSURGENT  REPUBLICANISM 

ALBERT  J.   BEVERIDGE 

United  States  Senator  from  Indiana 

(The  opening  and  closing  parts  of  a  speech  delivered  before  the 
Republican  State  Convention,  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  April  5, 
1910.  The  Indianapolis  Star,  in  its  report  of  the  occasion,  said: 
"Overshadowing  everything  was  the  wonderful  interest  manifested 
in  Senator  Beveridge's  speech.  Perhaps  it  was  realized  by  hun- 
dreds of  party  men  that  they  were  witnessing  what  might  be  termed 
the  dawn  of  a  political  to-morrow.") 

The  coming  battle  is  not  so  much  between  political 
parties  as  such  as  between  the  rights  of  the  people  and 
the  powers  of  pillage.  In  this  struggle  the  Republicans 
of  Indiana  stand  for  the  people.  Our  appeal  is  not  to 
partisans  because  of  partisanship,  but  to  citizens  because 
of  citizenship. 

It  is  another  phase  of  the  conflict  as  old  as  the  republic. 
It  was  so  when  Washington  fought  to  lift  from  the  people's 
necks  the  yoke  of  British  oppression,  and  the  people 
who  were  patriots  supported  him  and  won.  It  was  so 
when  Jackson  defied  secession  and  broke  the  power  of 
arrogant  and  unwise  wealth,  and  while  men  of  his  own 
party  left  him,  other  men  of  all  parties  in  overwhelming 
majorities  held  up  Andrew  Jackson's  hands.  It  was  so 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  sought  to  save  the  nation  and 


ALBERT  J.  BEVERIDGE  21 

end  slavery,  and  loyal  men  of  all  parties  forgot  ancient 
party  lines  and  gladly  marched  to  death  for  the  republic 
and  human  rights.  It  was  so  in  the  last  ten  years,  when 
another  President  attacked  the  country's  organized  greed 
which  was  fattening  on  the  labor  and  lives  of  the 
masses,  and  again  the  masses  forgot  their  partisan- 
ship and  overpowering  numbers  rallied  around  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. 

The  people  were  for  these  men  because  these  men  were 
for  the  people. 

A  political  party  is  not  a  group  of  politicians,  each 
with  his  following,  combining  to  win  the  spoils  of  place 
and  power.  Such  an  organization  is  not  a  party —  it  is 
a  band  of  brigands,  and  its  appeals  in  the  name  of  the 
party  are  mere  attempts  to  beguile  and  defraud  the 
voter  for  its  selfish  purposes.  Such  organizations  and 
men  are  the  tools  and  agents  of  lawless  interests  which 
know  no  party,  attempt  to  use  all  parties,  and  practise 
only  the  policies  of  profit. 

We  fight  not  only  the  battles  of  the  people  against  the 
powers  that  prey  upon  them,  but  also  we  fight  the  battles 
of  civilization  against  the  powers  that  oppose  it.  With 
all  my  soul  I  believe  in  the  powers  of  light  against  the 
powers  of  darkness.  Sometimes  those  powers  of  darkness 
and  of  light  are  arrayed  in  a  contest  as  broad  as  a  state; 
sometimes  they  are  arrayed  in  a  conflict  that  embraces 
the  nation.  But  in  the  end  they  include  all  nations  and 
all  humanity.  Always,  in  one  form  or  another,  old  privi- 
lege holds  his  sway;  yet  always  the  people  advance  upon 
him  and  his  hosts,  and  in  the  end  the  people  triumph. 

To  me  public  life  has  but  one  meaning;  to  me  this 
republic  has  but  one  meaning.    It  is  this:  here  are  mil- 


22  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

lions  of  human  beings;  not  one  of  these  millions  asked  to 
be  born,  yet  born  we  were  without  our  consent;  not  one 
of  us  asks  to  die,  yet  die  we  must  without  our  consent. 
And  in  the  brief  space  between  birth  and  death  all  of 
us,  except  the  favored  few,  have  a  hard  enough  time. 
What  can  be  done  to  make  the  load  of  all  these  millions 
lighter?  That  is  what  civilization  means  to  me.  What 
can  be  done  to  help  the  American  people  give  an  example 
to  all  the  world  of  the  progress  of  civilization  and  human 
contentment?    That  is  all  public  life  means  to  me. 

The  success  of  a  party  as  such  means  nothing;  but  the 
success  of  a  party  as  it  is  the  agent  of  human  welfare 
means  everything.  I  want  the  Republican  party  to  be 
that  instrument.    It  must  be.    It  shall  be.     It  will  be. 

Away  with  suggestion  of  individual  power,  profit,  or 
career!  Away  with  arguments  for  party  advantage! 
Up  with  the  banner  of  justice!  Up  with  the  flag  of 
human  rights!  And  let  us  carry  it  to  the  end  of  the 
conflict,  knowing  that  the  welfare  of  the  people  is  the 
only  thing  worth  working  for,  worth  living  for,  and,  as 
our  fathers  have  shown  us,  the  only  thing  worth  dying 
for.  Up  with  the  banner  of  justice  and  human  rights, 
and  forward  to  battle,  never  doubting  our  certain  victory. 

For  the  blood  that  founded  and  saved  the  republic 
still  pulses  through  American  veins.  Americans  still  will 
be  masters  and  not  vassals.  Americans  still  stand  for 
the  flag  unsullied,  laws  unpolluted,  and  that  righteous- 
ness which  exalteth  a  natioft.  Americans  still  stand  for 
justice  and  against  privilege;  for  equal  rights  for  all  and 
against  special  favors  for  the  few.  Americans  still  stand 
for  those  eternal  truths  which  made  up  the  "faith  of 
our  fathers,  blessed  faith." 


ALBERT  J.  BEVERIDGE  23 

Would  you  know  the  spirit  and  duty  of  the  hour? 
Listen!  and  you  will  hear  the  fife  and  drum  of  Bunker 
Hill  and  Yorktown  shrilling  and  throbbing  the  spirit 
and  duty  of  '76 —  and  that  is  the  spirit  and  duty  of 
to-day.  Listen  and  you  will  hear  the  bugle  of  Vicksburg 
and  Appomattox  pealing  the  spirit  and  duty  of  the  heroic 
sixties  —  and  that  is  the  spirit  and  duty  of  to-day.  For 
in  another  and  a  bloodless  way  again  we  fight  for  justice 
and  human  rights  as  in  those  splendid  days  of  righteous- 
ness and  glory. 

And,  as  the  conflict  rages,  be  of  stout  heart,  fearing 
neither  foe  in  front  nor  enemy  in  rear;  for  over  us  will 
hover  the  spirits  of  America's  mighty  dead  —  of  Washing- 
ton and  Jackson  and  Lincoln  and  Sumner  and  Morton 
and  Grant  —  inspiring  our  souls,  pointing  our  way  to 
the  overwhelming  rout  of  the  allied  foes  of  the  people, 
and  placing  upon  our  standards,  at  the  battle's  end,  the 
laurels  of  an  historic  victory.  Up,  then,  with  the  holy 
flag  of  justice  and  human  rights,  for  "in  this  sign  we 
conquer." 


THE  LAW'S  DELAYS 

WILLIAM  H.   TAFT 

(From  a  speech  made  at  Chicago,  September  16,  1909.) 

There  is  no  subject  upon  which  I  feel  so  deeply  as 
upon  the  necessity  for  reform  in  the  administration  of 
both  civil  and  criminal  law.  To  sum  it  all  up  in  one 
phrase,  the  difficulty  in  both  is  undue  delay.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  administration  of  criminal  law 


24  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

in  this  country  is  a  disgrace  to  our  civilization,  and  that 
the  prevalence  of  crime  and  fraud,  which  here  is  greatly 
in  excess  of  that  in  the  European  countries,  is  due  largely 
to  the  failure  of  the  law  and  its  administrators  to  bring 
criminals  to  justice. 

In  this  country  there  seems  to  have  been  on  the  part 
of  all  state  legislatures  a  fear  of  the  judge  and  not  of 
the  jury,  and  the  power  which  he  exercises  in  an  English 
court  has  by  legislation  been  reduced  from  time  to  time 
until  now — and  this  is  especially  true  in  western  states  — 
he  has  hardly  more  power  than  the  moderator  in  a  re- 
ligious assembly.  The  tendency  of  legislation  is  to  throw 
the  reins  on  the  back  of  the  jury  and  to  let  them  follow 
their  own  sweet  will,  influenced  by  all  the  arts  of  counsel 
for  the  defendant  in  leading  them  away  from  the  real 
points  at  issue  and  in  awakening  their  emotions  of  pity 
for  the  defendant  in  forgetfulness  of  the  wrongs  of  the 
prosecuting  witness,  or  it  may  be  of  the  deceased,  and  of 
the  rights  of  society  to  be  protected  against  crime;  and 
all  these  defects  are  emphasized  in  the  delays  which 
occur  in  the  trials  —  delays  made  necessary  because  the 
trials  take  so  great  a  time. 

A  murder  case  in  England  will  be  disposed  of  in  a  day 
or  two  days  that  here  will  take  three  weeks  or  a  month, 
and  no  one  can  say,  after  an  examination  of  the  records 
in  England,  that  the  rights  of  the  defendant  have  not 
been  preserved  and  that  justice  has  not  been  done.  It  is 
true  that  in  England  they  have  enlarged  the  procedure 
to  the  point  of  allowing  an  appeal  from  a  judgment  in  a 
criminal  case  to  a  court  of  appeals,  but  this  appeal  is 
usually  taken  and  allowed  only  on  a  few  questions  easily 
considered  by  the  court  above  and  promptly  decided. 


WILLIAM  H.  TAFT  25 

Counsel  are  not  permitted  to  mouse  through  the  record 
to  find  errors  that  in  the  trial  seemed  of  little  account, 
but  that  are  developed  into  great  injustices  in  the  court 
of  appeal.  This  is  another  defect  of  our  procedure. 
No  criminal  is  content  with  a  judgment  of  the  court 
below,  and  well  may  he  not  be,  because  the  record  of 
reversals  is  so  great  as  to  encourage  it  in  every  case  and 
to  hang  important  judgments  in  appellate  proceedings 
sometimes  for  years.  I  don't  know  when  the  reforms  are 
to  be  brought  about  in  this  country.  Until  our  people 
shall  become  fully  awake  and  in  some  concrete  way  be 
made  to  suffer  from  the  escape  of  criminals  from  just 
judgment,  this  system  may  continue. 

One  of  the  methods  by  which  it  could  be  remedied  in 
some  degree  is  to  give  judges  more  power  in  the  trial  of 
criminal  cases,  and  enable  them  to  aid  the  jury  in  its 
consideration  of  facts,  and  to  exercise  more  control  over 
the  arguments  that  counsel  see  fit  to  advance.  Judges, 
and  especially  judges  who  are  elected,  ought  not  to  be 
mistrusted  by  the  people.  A  judgeship  is  a  great  office, 
and  the  man  who  holds  it  should  exercise  great  power, 
and  he  ought  to  be  allowed  to  exercise  that  in  a  trial  by 
jury.  Then  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  in  England 
lawyers,  in  the  conduct  of  their  cases,  feel  much  more 
and  respect  much  more  their  obligation  to  assist  the 
court  in  administering  justice,  and  restrain  themselves 
from  adopting  the  desperate  and  extreme  methods  which 
American  lawyers  are  even  applauded  for. 

The  trial  here  is  a  game  in  which  the  advantage  is 
with  the  criminal,  and,  if  he  wins,  he  seems  to  have  the 
sympathy  of  a  sporting  public.  Trial  by  jury,  as  it  has 
come  to  us  through  the  Constitution,  is  the  trial  by  jury 


26  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

under  the  English  law,  and  under  that  law  the  vagaries, 
the  weaknesses,  the  timidities,  and  the  ignorance  of  juries 
were  to  be  neutralized  by  the  presence  in  court  of  a 
judge  to  whom  they  should  look  for  instruction  upon  the 
law  and  sound  advice  in  respect  to  the  facts,  although, 
of  course,  with  regard  to  the  facts  their  ultimate  con- 
clusion must  be  their  own  and  they  were  fully  at  liberty 
to  disregard  the  judicial  suggestion. 

But  the  reform  in  our  criminal  procedure  is  not  the 
only  reform  that  we  ought  to  have  in  our  courts.  On 
the  civil  side  of  the  courts  there  is  undue  delay,  and  this 
always  works  for  the  benefit  of  the  man  with  the  longest 
purse.  The  employment  of  lawyers  and  the  payment 
of  costs  all  become  more  expensive  as  the  litigation  is 
extended.  It  used  to  be  thought  that  a  system  by  which 
cases  involving  small  amounts  could  be  carried  to  the 
supreme  court,  through  two  or  three  courts  of  interme- 
diate appeal,  was  a  perfect  system  because  it  gave  the  poor 
man  the  same  right  to  go  to  the  supreme  courts  as  a  rich 
man.  Nothing  is  further  from  the  truth.  What  the  poor 
man  needs  is  a  prompt  decision  of  his  case,  and  by  limiting 
the  appeals  in  cases  involving  small  amounts  of  money  so 
that  there  shall  be  a  final  decision  in  the  lower  court,  an 
opportunity  is  given  to  the  poor  litigant  to  secure  a  judg- 
ment in  time  to  enjoy  it  and  not  after  he  has  exhausted 
all  his  resources  in  litigating  to  the  supreme  court. 

I  am  a  lawyer  and  admire  my  profession,  but  I  must 
admit  that  we  have  had  too  many  lawyers  in  legislating 
on  legal  procedure,  and  they  have  been  prone  to  think 
that  litigants  were  made  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
business  to  courts  and  lawyers,  and  not  courts  and  law- 
yers for  the  benefit  of  the  people  and  litigants. 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  37 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GOOD  CITIZENSHIP 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

(Condensed  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, April  3,  1903.) 

It  was  one  of  our  American  humorists  who,  like  all 
true  humorists,  was  also  a  sage,  who  said  that  it  was 
easier  to  be  a  harmless  dove  than  a  wise  serpent.  Now, 
the  aim  in  production  of  citizenship  must  not  be  merely 
the  production  of  harmless  citizenship.  Of  course,  it  is 
essential  that  you  should  not  harm  your  fellows,  but  if, 
after  you  are  through  with  life,  all  that  can  be  truthfully 
said  of  you  is  that  you  did  not  do  any  harm,  it  must  also 
truthfully  be  added  that  you  did  no  particular  good. 

Remember  that  the  commandment  had  the  two  sides 
—  to  be  harmless  as  doves  and  wise  as  serpents;  to  be 
moral  in  the  highest  and  best  sense  of  the  word;  to  have 
the  morality  that  abstains  and  endures,  and  also  the 
morality  that  does  and  fears,  the  morality  that  can  suffer 
and  the  morality  that  can  achieve  results  —  to  have 
that  and,  coupled  with  it,  to  have  the  energy,  the  power 
to  accomplish  things,  which  every  good  citizen  must  have 
if  his  citizenship  is  to  be  of  real  value  to  the  community. 

Mr.  Judson  said  in  his  address  to-day  that  the  things 
we  need  are  elemental.  jWe  need  to  produce  not  genius, 
not  brilliancy,  but  the  homely,  commonplace,  elemental 
virtues.  The  reason  we  won  in  1776,  the  reason  that  in 
the  great  trial  from  1861  to  1865  this  nation  rang  true 
metal,  was  because  the  average  citizen  had  in  him  the 
stuff  out  of  which  good  citizenship  has  been  made  from 


28  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

time  immemorial,  because  he  had  in  him  honesty,  courage, 
common  sense. 

Brilliancy  and  genius  ?  Yes,  if  we  can  have  them  in 
addition  to  the  other  virtues.  If  not,  if  brilliant  genius 
comes  without  the  accompaniment  of  the  substantial 
qualities  of  character  and  soul,  then  it  is  a  menace  to 
the  nation.  If  it  comes  in  addition  to  those  qualities, 
then,  of  course,  we  get  the  great  general  leader,  we  get 
the  Lincoln,  we  get  the  man  who  can  do  more  than 
any  common  man  can  do.  But  without  it  much  can  be 
done. 

And  no  one  quality  is  enough.  First  of  all  is  honesty 
—  remember  that  I  am  using  the  word  in  its  broadest 
signification  —  honesty,  decency,  clean  living  at  home, 
clean  living  abroad,  fair  dealing  in  one's  own  family, 
fair  dealing  by  the  public. 

And  honesty  is  not  enough.  If  a  man  is  never  so 
honest,  but  is  timid,  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  with 
him.  In  the  Civil  War  you  needed  patriotism  in  the 
soldier,  but  if  the  soldier  had  the  patriotism,  and  yet 
felt  compelled  to  run  away  when  that  was  needed,  he 
was  not  of  much  use.  Together  with  honesty  you  must 
have  the  second  of  the  virile  virtues,  courage;  courage 
to  dare,  courage  to  withstand  the  wrong  and  to  fight 
aggressively  and  vigorously  for  the  right. 

And  if  you  have  only  honesty  and  courage,  you  may 
yet  be  an  entirely  worthless  citizen.  An  honest  and 
valiant  fool  has  but  a  small  place  of  usefulness  in  the 
body  politic.  With  honesty,  with  courage,  must  go  com- 
mon sense,  ability  to  work  with  your  fellows,  ability 
when  you  go  out  of  the  academic  halls  to  work  with  the 
men  of  this  nation,  the  millions  of  men  who  have  not  an 


M.  WOOLSEY  STRYKER  29 

academic  training,  who  will  accept  your  leadership  on 
just  one  consideration,  and  that  is  that  you  show  yourself 
in  the  rough  work  of  actual  life  fit  and  able  to  lead. 


THE  DUTY  OF  ENTHUSIASM 

M.   WOOLSEY  STRYKER 
President  of  Hamilton  CoUege 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  celebration  of  Inde- 
pendence Day,  at  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  July  4,  1894.) 

True  enthusiasm  means  daring  and  uncompromising 
devotion.  It  is  not  a  sentiment  and  an  intoxicant,  but 
an  ardent  and  quenchless  hope  that  what  should  be  shall 
be  I  This  is  dedication  —  the  sublime  surrender  of  the 
whole  being  to  the  guidance  of  the  ever-on-going  God. 

A  wise  Frenchman  wrote  a  book  under  the  proposition 
that  "Eloquence  is  a  Virtue."  It  is  a  faithful  saying. 
When  the  real  man  arrives  he  speaks  with  tones  that 
smite  his  time  of  stupidity  as  the  thunders  break  the 
oppression  of  the  heavy  summer  day.  John  the  Baptist, 
Martin  Luther,  Cromwell,  Mirabeau,  Sam  Adams,  O'Con- 
nell,  John  Bright,  Garrison,  Phillips,  Lincoln  —  these  are 
the  men  whose  enthusiasm  interrupts  and  crushes  the 
stolidity  of  custom  and  the  irresolution  of  policy.  Such 
men  God  sends  as  the  couriers  of  repentance,  and  they 
are  the  herald-angels  of  the  Evangel.  They  disdain  the 
paltry  evasions  and  subterfuges  of  expediency,  and  trem- 
bling themselves  in  the  reality  of  that  kindling  ideal 
which  both  consumes  and  compels  them  —  taking  fire 


30  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

like  meteors  by  the  rapidity  and  friction  of  their  passage 
— they  are  the  avatars  of  the  message  they  announce! 

It  is  the  conquest  of  the  soul  by  great  and  profound 
ideas  that  makes  great.  This  is  the  stuff  whereof  pioneers 
and  prophets  are  made.  The  three  great  elements  of 
power  are  these  —  judgment,  imagination,  hope.  He 
who  has  these  is  complete  and  furnished  to  every  good 
work.  One  may  have  either  without  the  others  —  then 
he  is  gibbous  instead  of  spherical.  The  true  leader  and 
the  true  follower  —  each  is  one  who  will  take  great  risks 
for  great  reasons. 

"He  either  fears  his  fate  too  much, 
Or  his  deserts  are  small, 
Who  will  not  put  it  to  the  touch, 
And  win  or  lose  it  all." 

Back  in  1871,  when  men  in  Chicago  were  hanging 
themselves  to  lamp-posts  and  drowning  themselves  in  the 
lake,  a  man  put  an  advertisement  in  one  of  the  papers, 
reading:  "Men  of  Chicago,  take  hope.  Our  fathers 
raised  her  from  the  bog,  and  we  can  raise  her  from  the 
ashes!"  It  is  that  spirit  that  raised  that  Phoenix  City 
by  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  It  is  in  that  Chicago 
spirit,  translated  and  transfigured  by  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  that  we  need  to-day,  every  one  of  us,  to  put 
whole  souls  into  all  affairs.  God  will  give  us  light  if  we 
ask  him  for  it.  Hope  is  creative,  doubt  is  abortive.  Let 
us  hope,  then  act.  The  men  who  are  willing  to  deny 
themselves  any  possible  gain,  who  forget  that  a  vote  is 
a  vow,  who  forget  that  a  candidate  is  a  man  clad  in 
white,  who  forget  the  patriotism  of  paying  taxes,  who 
forget  that  law  is  like  a  bicycle  and  that  the  way  to  keep 
it  standing  is  to  keep  it  going,  whose  very  bones  are 


M.  WOOLSEY  STRYKER  31 

flabby  with  civil  neglect,  whose  minds  are  mere  kennels 
for  vagrant  theories,  and  who  recant  the  old-fashioned 
law  of  duty  —  these  moral  spendthrifts  and  soul  paupers, 
these  are  the  incubi  of  the  times!  Such  a  man  is  not  a 
man,  but  a  manikin.  But  upon  the  souls  who  are  full 
of  the  enthusiasm  of  duty  rests  the  unconquerable  state. 
To  these  "  the  Christ  that  is  to  be  "  flings  wide  His  effectual 
doors.  Ruled  by  such  a  ken,  life  can  never  seem  shabby 
nor  hope  irrational.  To  him  who  truly  lives  and  does, 
the  veil  of  the  visible  becomes  more  and  more  diaphanous. 
There  are  such  men.  We  do  not  always  listen  to  hear 
the  deep  breathing  of  the  people  ready  to  respond  to 
the  prophet  of  conscience.  We  bite  into  one  blasted 
ear,  and  forget  the  green  sabers  of  the  corn  that  array 
a  thousand  prairies.  We  find  one  brackish  pool,  and 
forget  the  trickling  of  a  myriad  translucent  springs.  We 
see  one  whirling,  copper  cloud,  and  doubt  the  sun.  But 
God  reigns!  God  reigns!  On  some  level  shores  the  tides 
rise,  invisibly  percolating  all  the  sands.  One  instant  it 
is  shore,  and  the  next  up  comes  the  ocean  and  it  is  sea. 
The  ebb  is  on  no  more,  the  flood-tide  is  on.  Such  is  the 
spontaneity  and  instantaneousness  of  many  a  great  and 
invisibly  gradual  movement  under  the  Sovereign  Spirit. 


32  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  A  NEW  IDEA 

HERBERT  S.  BIGELOW 
Minister  of  the  People's  Church,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 

(Extract  from  an  address  on  "  Calf  Paths,"  being  one  of  numerous 
addresses  published  by  the  People's  Church  and  Town  Meeting 
Society.) 

At  Ephesus,  a  certain  man,  named  Demetrius,  a  silver- 
smith, who  made  silver  shrines  of  Diana,  brought  no 
little  business  unto  the  craftsmen;  whom  he  gathered 
together,  with  the  workingmen  of  like  occupation,  and 
said:  "Sirs,  ye  know  that  by  this  business  we  have  our 
wealth.  And  ye  see  and  hear  that  not  alone  at  Ephesus, 
but  almost  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  persuaded 
and  turned  away  much  people,  saying  that  they  are  no 
gods  that  are  made  with  hands;  and  not  only  is  there 
danger  that  this  our  trade  come  into  disrepute,  but  also 
that  the  temple  of  the  great  goddess  Diana  be  made 
of  no  account,  and  that  she  should  even  be  deposed 
from  her  magnificence,  whom  all  Asia  and  the  world 
worshipeth." 

And  when  they  heard  this  they  were  filled  with  wrath 
and  cried  out,  saying,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians!" 
And  they  rushed  with  one  accord  into  the  theater;  and 
some  cried  one  thing  and  some  another;  for  the  assem- 
bly was  in  confusion;  and  the  greater  part  knew  not 
wherefore  they  were  come  together. 

The  history  of  the  world  can  be  boiled  down  to  this 
story  of  Paul  and  Demetrius  and  the  silversmiths  and 
mob  at  Ephesus.    We  have  always  the  same  contending 


HERBERT  S.  BIGELOW  33 

forces  —  Paul,  the  apostle  of  a  new  idea;  Demetrius  and 
the  silversmiths,  whose  business  is  threatened  by  that 
idea;  and  the  mob  that  joins  in  the  hue  and  cry  against 
the  apostle  without  knowing  why.  Progress  is  the  result- 
ant of  these  three  forces  —  special  interest  and  ignorance 
on  the  one  side,  and,  on  the  other,  the  power  of  truth. 
This  is  the  necessary  formula  for  the  right  understanding 
of  our  own  or  any  other  age. 

It  is  a  present-day  custom  for  the  members  of  the 
English  Parliament  to  bow  three  times  before  taking 
their  seats.  An  American,  mystified  by  this  strange  cus- 
tom, inquired  the  reason  for  it.  He  was  astonished  to 
find  the  Englishmen  could  not  tell  him.  No  one  seemed 
to  know,  not  even  the  men  who  did  the  bowing.  But 
after  much  research  the  mystery  was  cleared  away.  The 
buildings  of  Parliament  had  once  burned,  and  the  mem- 
bers were  quartered  for  a  period  in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel. 
Having  the  altar  of  the  church  before  them,  they  made 
the  customary  bow  to  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
When  they  moved  in  their  present  abode  they  did  not 
take  the  altar  with  them,  but  they  kept  on  bowing  never- 
theless. 

Institutions  survive  the  reasons  for  their  existence. 
Mental  habits  yield  reluctantly  to  changed  conditions. 
The  chasm  widens  between  old  custom  and  present  need, 
and  every  age  requires  its  moral  engineers  to  bridge  the 
chasm  and  rationalize  the  ways  of  life. 

The  first  message  sent  over  the  telegraph  wire  was 
dictated  by  an  army  officer.  It  was  this:  "Attention: 
The  Universe.  By  kingdoms:  Right  Wheel."  This  is 
the  order  that  every  new  idea  brings. 

Men  tell  us  of  our  natural  resources  and  the  need  of 


34  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

their  conservation,  of  the  power  that  is  wasted  every 
day,  of  the  wealth  that  is  lost  in  fire  and  flood,  in  raging 
rivers  and  plunging  falls  and  arid  plains.  But  greater 
than  all  these  resources  combined  is  the  untapped  reser- 
voir of  truth,  the  infinite  possibility,  the  incomprehen- 
sible power  that  is  yet  to  spring  from  the  unfettered 
brain  of  man.  They  who  loosen  the  grip  of  the  past, 
they  who  wear  away  the  obstructions  of  custom  and 
tradition,  they  who  inspire  man  with  faith  in  himself, 
teach  him  the  courage  to  think  and  to  do,  they  who 
help  to  break  the  chains  of  prejudice  and  superstition, 
of  fear  and  unbelief,  —  they  are  the  greatest  conservators 
of  all,  and  the  wealth  of  mind  which  they  open  up  is  the 
inexhaustible  resource  of  man. 


ON  THE  MURDER  OF  AMERICAN  CITIZENS 
IN  NICARAGUA 

ISADOR  RAYNER 
United  States  Senator  from  Maryland 

(Adapted  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  December  13,  1909.) 

On  the  morning  of  November  16,  1909,  two  American 
citizens,  named  Cannon  and  Groce,  who  had  served  as 
soldiers  in  the  revolutionary  army  of  General  Estrada,  in 
Nicaragua,  and  had  been  captured  as  prisoners  of  war, 
were  marched  out  and  shot  to  death  by  order  of  Zelaya, 
the  lately  deposed  president  of  the  republic  of  Nicaragua, 
and  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  his  officers. 


ISADOR  RAYNER  35 

Mr.  President,  I  have  watched  for  years  the  revolu- 
tionary history  of  Central  America,  and  am  familiar  with 
the  career  of  a  great  many  of  the  impostors  and  usurpers 
and  the  grotesque  and  motley  leaders  that  have  sprung 
from  their  chaotic  institutions,  but  Zelaya  is  probably 
the  most  despicable  figure  that  has  ever  arisen  in  their 
midst.  If  he  were  simply  a  highwayman,  we  might 
identify  him;  if  he  were  simply  a  tyrant,  who  oppressed 
the  people  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  them,  we  might 
particularize  him;  if  he  were  a  usurper  who  was  only 
holding  on  to  power  so  long  as  there  was  any  money  in 
the  treasury  to  steal,  or  any  further  territory  that  he 
could  sack  for  private  plunder,  we  could  assign  him  a 
proper  place  in  the  ranks  of  some  of  his  predecessors; 
and  if  he  were  purely  an  assassin  who  regarded  murder 
as  a  legitimate  profession  through  which  he  could  despoil 
his  victims  of  their  possessions  until  the  time  came  for 
him  to  flee  from  the  hands  of  retributive  justice,  it  would 
be  an  easy  task  also  for  anyone  acquainted  with  the 
political  history  of  Nicaragua  to  classify  him. 

He  is,  however,  all  of  these  things  combined.  In  the 
school  of  corruption,  dishonor,  perfidy,  and  crime  he 
stands  without  a  peer,  and  exhibits  in  one  glow  of  asso- 
ciated harmony  "the  pride  of  every  model  and  the  per- 
fection of  every  master."  I  have  been  informed  upon 
the  most  reliable  authority  that  the  vices  of  his  private 
life  are  more  infamous  in  their  indescribable  details  than 
the  iniquities  of  his  public  career.  Such  a  creature  as 
this  deserves  the  execration  of  mankind. 

Now,  as  the  culminating  infamy  of  his  administration, 
trampling  upon  every  instinct  of  humanity,  in  violation 
of  universal  law,  in  defiance  of  those  precepts  of  the 


36  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

international  code  that  have  been  recognized  ever  since 
the  night  of  barbarism  receded  before  the  rays  of  civiliza- 
tion, he  has  put  to  torture  and  then  to  death  two  American 
citizens  who  were  not  guilty  of  treason,  who  were  not 
spies,  but  whom  he  had  captured  as  prisoners  of  war  in 
the  army  of  the  revolutionists. 

This  act  was  not  only  the  act  of  a  fiend,  but  was  an 
insult  to  the  honor  of  this  republic,  and  cannot  remain 
unavenged.  This  Government  is  a  cowardly  Government 
if  it  does  not  make  an  example  of  Zelaya  before  the  eyes 
of  the  civilized  world.  This  case  will  not  admit  of  any 
trifling  or  concessions.  If  two  American  citizens  —  I 
care  not  who  they  were  or  what  they  were,  citizens  in 
high  standing,  as  they  have  been  reputed  to  be,  or  soldiers 
of  fortune  —  have  been  murdered  by  Zelaya,  then  he 
must  be  made  to  pay  the  penalty  of  his  crime.  No  other 
punishment  will  meet  with  the  favor  or  the  temper  of 
the  American  people.  It  is  absolutely  preposterous  for 
us  to  talk  about  indemnity.  Indemnity  is  no  recom- 
pense for  murder.  No  such  recreant  move  as  this  will 
satisfy  the  demands  of  justice.  If  Zelaya  had  the  right 
to  sentence  these  men  to  death  and  execute  them  in 
cold  blood,  then  we  must  acknowledge  that  right  and 
recognize  it  before  the  nations  of  the  world.  If  he  did 
not  have  that  right,  no  matter  how  petty  and  insignificant 
he  may  be  in  the  eyes  of  diplomacy  or  upon  the  sphere 
of  the  world's  action,  no  matter  how  trivial  and  unim- 
portant a  station  his  Government  may  occupy,  this 
Government  is  his  accuser,  and  if  he  is  guilty  he  must 
be  awarded  the  doom  and  fate  that  he  deserves,  so  that 
every  tyrant  on  this  earth,  in  every  nationality  under 
the  sun,  and  in  every  government,  large  or  small,  shall 


EDWARD  A.  ROSS  37 

be  told  once  and  forever  that  our  flag  follows  our  citizens 
wherever  they  go,  and  that  when  an  assassination  like 
this  occurs  the  malefactor  must  take  his  place,  like  any- 
other  culprit,  at  the  bar  of  criminal  justice,  and  must 
answer  for  the  deed  with  his  liberty  or  his  life. 


WHAT  IS  A  GOOD  MAN? 

EDWARD  A.   ROSS 
Professor  of  Sociology  at  the  University  of  Chicago 

(Condensed  from  a  lecture  delivered  on  various  occasions.) 

One  is  not  "good"  because  he  is  strict  and  punctual 
in  devout  observances.  When  prompted  by  a  canny  con- 
cern for  one's  salvation,  church-going,  Sabbath-keeping, 
and  fasting  are  no  more  goodness  than  is  careful  atten- 
tion to  one's  fire  insurance  policies. 

Nor  do  correct  habits  constitute  goodness.  Absti- 
nence from  liquor  or  tobacco  may  be  no  more  meritorious 
than  abstinence  from  Welsh  rarebit.  Nevertheless,  self- 
control  is  a  requisite  and  no  one  enslaved  by  his  appetites 
is  in  the  way  of  virtue. 

Senseless  self-denial  is  not  goodness.  The  rigorist  who 
eschews  whist,  dancing,  and  theater  may  be  as  futile 
an  egoist  as  St.  Simon  Stylites  on  his  pillar. 

In  a  time  as  congenial  to  the  family  virtues  as  ours, 
one  deserves  no  wreath  for  being  "a  faithful  husband 
and  a  loving  father."  In  the  eleventh  century  a  man 
who  can  read  and  write  is  "learned,"  and  a  man  who 
keeps  his  marriage  vows  is  "good";  but  not  to-day. 


38  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Rich  gifts  prove  nothing  till  we  know  how  the  donor 
got  the  money  and  how  much  he  has.  The  only  gift  is 
a  portion  of  one's  self;  and  the  giving  of  superfluity  has 
no  moral  significance.  If  the  size  of  the  contribution  is 
to  measure  goodness,  then  the  poor  widow  with  her  two 
mites  is  contemptible! 

The  beginning  of  goodness  is  to  stand  on  one's  own 
feet.  This  requires  moral  stamina  now  that  there  are 
so  many  new  ways  of  being  a  parasite.  For  your  tainted 
news  is  a  climbing  upon  other  people's  backs,  Mr.  Editor. 
So  is  your  secret  rebate,  Mr.  Shipper;  your  stock  juggle, 
Mr.  Financier;  your  perfunctory  supervision,  Mr.  Official; 
your  whitewashing  investigation,  Mr.  Legislator;  your 
hold-up  strike,  Mr.  Walking  Delegate. 

"Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens"  obscures  the  injunc- 
tion, "For  every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden."  Gen- 
erosity, being  genial  and  spectacular,  is  more  prized  than 
justice.  A  short  cut  to  sainthood  is  to  use  your  superi- 
ority in  strength,  cunning,  or  callousness  to  make  others 
carry  you;  and  then  ostentatiously  to  shoulder  the  bur- 
dens of  a  few  of  the  brethren. 

To  stand  on  one's  own  feet  is  to  abide  by  the  rules  of 
the  game.  The  insurance  men  who  buy  a  block  of  stock 
with  the  agreement  that  it  is  theirs  if  the  price  goes  up, 
but  the  company's  if  the  price  goes  down,  the  traffic 
men  who  withhold  the  f acilities  of  a  common  carrier  from 
rival  coal  operators,  the  candidate  who  nullifies  his 
public  pledges  with  a  secret  pledge,  the  editor  who  palms 
off  paid  stuff  as  editorial  opinion,  the  preacher  who  lays 
away  the  sermons  that  might  grate  on  the  rich  pew- 
holder,  the  professor  of  economics  who  shies  from  the 
"live  wire"  to  burrow  into  the  archaeology  of  his  subject 


EDWARD  A.  ROSS  39 

—  these  commit  breach  of  confidence.  They  are  not 
playing  the  game  as  it  is  generally  understood. 

But  the  good  man  will  help  others,  and  when  he  comes 
to  spend  himself  for  others  two  paths  are  open.  He 
may  minister  to  the  suffering,  like  the  Red  Cross  nurse, 
or  the  charity  worker;  or  he  may  uphold  and  improve 
the  rules  of  the  game.  Though  less  picturesque,  the 
latter  way  is  none  the  less  flinty.  For  ages  the  Good 
Samaritan  has  borne  the  palm.  But  what  of  the  inspector 
who  reports  the  scandalous  state  of  affairs  on  the  Jericho 
Road,  even  though  the  chances  are  his  superiors  will 
pigeonhole  his  report  and  dismiss  him?  What  of  the 
prosecutor  who  commits  political  hara-kari  in  order  to 
get  the  men  "higher  up"  who  protect  and  blackmail  the 
thieves  working  the  Jericho  Road  ?  The  Samaritan  risked 
a  big  tavern  bill;  these  risk  a  livelihood.  Which  is  the 
better  man? 

The  lovers  of  men  who  give  themselves  to  personal 
service  are  sainted.  But  the  haters  of  iniquity  who 
fight  for  right  standards  and  laws  —  heading  afresh  the 
rivets  that  hold  together  the  social  fabric  —  miss  saint- 
hood. They  bear  too  many  scars,  are  the  target  for  too 
much  filth,  to  vie  in  radiance  with  the  gentle  soul  who 
comforts  the  afflicted  but  will  not  strike  a  blow  for  the 
right's  sake. 

Nevertheless,  now  that  we  are  in  the  civic  stage,  your 
saint  "without  an  enemy  in  the  world"  is  of  less  worth 
than  the  stalwart  knight  of  conscience.  For  the  one 
copes  only  with  consequences,  the  other  attacks  causes. 
It  is  the  difference  between  nursing  the  malaria-stricken 
and  draining  the  swamp;  between  Father  Damien  devot- 
ing himself  to  the  lepers  on  Molokai  and  the  eight  who 


40  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

let  themselves  be  bitten  by  inflicted  mosquitoes,  to  test 
Major  Reed's  hypothesis  of  the  mosquito  transmission 
of  yellow  fever.  So  to-day  the  self-sacrifice  that  yields 
an  hundredfold  is  battling  with  the  Midianites.  And 
the  lovers  of  men  are  finding  it  out.  The  good  man 
starts  out  to  clothe  the  naked  and  presently  he  is  grap- 
pling with  exploiters  and  vice  caterers  who  produce  more 
nakedness  in  a  day  than  he  can  cover  in  a  year.  He  sets 
forth  to  enlighten  those  who  sit  in  darkness,  and  lo,  he 
is  fighting  against  child  labor,  or  politics  in  the  public 
schools.  In  the  morning  he  goes  abroad  to  heal  the 
sick,  by  noon  he  is  hammering  quacks  and  food  adul- 
terators and  rookery  landlords  and  medical  institutes. 
Thus  experience  drives  home  the  paradox  that  the 
supremacy  of  law,  the  triumph  of  truth  and  honesty  in 
business  and  government,  and  the  scientific  adaptation 
of  institutions  to  changing  needs  promote  human  welfare 
more  than  feeding  to-day's  hungry  and  nursing  to-day's 
sick. 


THE  LEADERSHIP  OF  EDUCATED  MEN 

STEPHEN  S.   WISE 
Rabbi  of  the  Free  Synagogue,  New  York  City 

(Extract  from  a  baccalaureate  sermon,  preached  at  the  Com- 
mencement of  the  University  of  Washington,  June  n,  1905.) 

The  aims  of  the  university  are  not  so  much  leadership 
and  service  as  leadership  through  service,  the  service  of 
leadership.    Democracy,  the  basis  of  the  university,  will 


STEPHEN  S.  WISE  41 

not  perdure,  nor  idealism,  the  foster-child  of  the  uni- 
versity, thrive  unless  from  out  the  university  there  go  a 
sense  of  leadership.  President  Butler  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity declared  in  the  course  of  his  inaugural  address 
that  "scholarship  and  service  are  the  true  university's 
ideal."  Leadership  is  but  another  name  for  service; 
leadership  is  service  in  the  highest  and  there  is  no  other 
leadership  worthy  of  the  name.  Only  in  the  measure 
in  which  leadership  becomes  synonymous  with  service 
will  the  prophecy  of  a  noted  teacher  of  our  day  be  veri- 
fied. "In  the  twentieth  century  the  college  man  is  to 
be  more  than  ever  before  the  leader  of  the  world." 
Ich  dien,  "I  serve,"  inscribed  on  the  coat-of-arms  of 
the  heir  to  England's  throne,  should  be  emblazoned  on 
the  banner  borne  aloft  by  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
university.  "Before  honor  goes  humility";  before  lead- 
ership goes  service.  Forget  not  Emerson's  story  of  the 
reputed  saint,  who  proved  no  saint  because  she  scorned 
to  do  lowly  service.  It  is  commonly  urged  that  the  uni- 
versity graduate,  the  man  of  education,  is  selfish,  passive, 
sterile.  You,  the  scholars  of  the  age,  are  to  prove  by 
leadership  in  service  and  the  leadership  of  service  that 
the  man  of  education  is  unselfish  and  that  his  education 
is  not  passive  and  sterile,  but  positive  and  fruitful  of  the 
good.  In  the  last  few  years,  by  reason  of  their  highly 
disciplined  sense  of  leadership,  fortified  by  a  lofty  ideal- 
ism and  a  profound  consecration,  university  men  have 
rendered  signal  service  to  the  state  and  to  the  smaller 
state  of  civic  life.  Seth  Low  rehabilitated  the  city  gov- 
ernment of  New  York  after  years  of  misrule  and  shame. 
W.  T.  Jerome  has  once  again  made  the  law  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  rich  and  poor,  in  New  York.     Schurman  of 


42  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Cornell,  Taft  of  Yale,  Roosevelt  of  Harvard  are  helping 
to  solve  the  problems  of  government  and  administration. 
You,  young  men  and  women  of  the  university,  are  to 
be  teachers,  leaders  and  guides,  furtherers,  inspirers,  and 
compellers  of  humankind.  Into  the  world  you  go, 
apostles  of  democracy,  prophets  of  idealism,  evangels  of 
consecration.  In  the  closing  scene  of  " Faust,"  some  of 
you  may  remember,  the  soul  of  Faust  is  handed  over  to 
the  care  of  Margaret,  who  earnestly  asks  how  she  is  to 
conduct  him  to  the  highest  peaks,  and  to  her  the  answer 
comes,  "Go  up  higher;  he  will  follow  thee."  Go  up 
higher;  men  will  follow  you.  The  race  is  waiting — and 
eager  to  be  led — to  follow  whosoever  "will  lead  higher 
and  ever  higher. 


THE  ATLANTIC  FLEET  IN  THE  PACIFIC 

JAMES   N.    GILLETT 
Governor  of  California 

(Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  given  in  honor 
of  the  officers  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet,  at  San  Francisco,  May  7, 
1908.) 

On  the  sixteenth  day  of  December,  1907,  there  assem- 
bled at  Hampton  Roads  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
fleets  ever  congregated  by  any  nation  in  the  world. 
This  magnificent  fleet  contemplated  a  voyage  around  the 
Horn,  up  the  Pacific,  a  distance  of  over  fifteen  thousand 
miles.  At  that  time,  not  only  were  the  eyes  of  ninety 
million  of  Americans  watching  it  with  interest,  but  the 


JAMES  N.  GILLETT  43 

great  nations  of  the  world  also  were  watching,  and  won- 
dering what  the  outcome  would  be  of  this  marvelous 
voyage  which  soon  was  to  commence. 

This  great  fleet  started,  not  on  a  journey  of  conquest, 
not  looking  for  trouble,  but  a  white  fleet  of  peace,  flying 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  saying  to  the  nations  of  the 
world,  "This  represents  the  power  and  the  dignity  of 
the  American  Government." 

We  watched  its  course  with  interest;  we  were  pleased 
to  note  the  fact  when  they  passed  the  dangers  of  the 
Southern  seas,  and  commenced  to  come  up  the  Pacific. 
We  greeted  them  with  a  hearty  welcome  on  the  14  th  of 
April,  when  they  arrived  in  American  waters  and  passed  to 
anchor  in  San  Diego  harbor.  The  fleet  remained  the 
allotted  time  in  the  southland,  and  finally  found  its  way  up 
along  the  coast,  and  yesterday  it  appeared  off  the  Heads, 
and  at  the  appointed  time,  twelve  o'clock  noon,  it  passed 
through  the  Golden  Gate  into  the  greatest  harbor  in  the 
world. 

I  stood  with  pleasure,  and  inspired,  too,  on  Point 
Bonita  when  it  passed,  although  it  was  foggy  and  cloudy 
overhead.  As  it  passed  through  there  was  a  rift  in  the 
clouds  and  the  golden  sunlight  poured  down  on  our  ships 
as  they  passed  through  the  Golden  Gate  and  swung  to 
the  anchorage  where  they  now  lie. 

There  started  in  command  of  this  fleet,  and  remained 
with  it,  one  of  the  great  figures  of  our  country,  a  man  that 
the  people  of  this  country  love  and  respect,  a  man  full  of 
courage,  a  man  who  has  all  the  commanding  qualities  of 
John  Paul  Jones,  and  a  man  who  likewise  said,  as  he  came 
through  the  Golden  Gate,  "Do  not  give  up  the  ship,"  and 
Admiral  Evans  did  not  give  up  the  ship,  sick  as  he  was. 


44  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

With  him  as  his  aid,  watching  him  night  and  day, 
following  out  his  orders,  obeying  his '  commands,  and 
loving  him  all  the  way  round,  and  watching  his  sickness, 
were  his  admirals  and  the  men  in  command,  the  officers 
of  his  fjeet.  They  will  be  with  us  for  some  time  now, 
and  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  the  people  of  the  whole 
United  States  are  proud  of  the  commanding  officers  of 
this  magnificent  fleet.  We  have  every  confidence  in  you. 
We  know  that  as  you  tread  upon  these  great,  mighty 
engines  of  war,  no  matter  in  what  climate  you  may  be, 
no  matter  where  you  may  go,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  that 
we  give  to  you  to  indicate  the  nationality  of  the  vessels 
that  you  command  will  be  protected,  and  the  dignity 
of  this  country  will  be  maintained. 


THE  AMERICAN  NAVY 

VICTOR  H.   METCALF 

Former  Secretary  of  the  Navy 

(Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  tendered  him- 
self and  the  officers  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet,  at  San  Francisco,  May 
7,  1908.) 

Lying  peacefully  at  anchor  in  the  waters  of  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay  is  the  greatest  fleet  of  war-ships  ever  assembled 
in  American  waters;  they  are  the  bulldogs  of  the  Ameri- 
can navy  —  mighty  engines  of  destruction  when  occasion 
requires.  Now  they  are  bent  on  a  peaceful  mission,  and 
a  mission  that  will  result  in  much  good  to  the  service  as 
well  as  to  the  nation  at  large.    No  one,  after  the  generous 


VICTOR  H.  METCALF  45 

welcome  accorded  the  officers  and  men  at  the  various 
ports  in  South  America,  where  the  fleet  stopped  on  its 
course  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  can  for  one 
moment  doubt  the  genuineness  of  the  friendship  of  the 
people  of  certain  of  those  republics  for  the  American 
people. 

We  have  never  sought  and  never  will  seek  to  build 
ourselves  up  by  trying  to  pull  others  down.  We  are  not 
seeking  for  new  territory;  but  the  events  of  the  past 
few  years  have  forced  this  country  to  the  front,  and  we 
are  to-day  one  of  the  great  world  powers.  There  is  no 
danger  of  any  power  attacking  us  by  land,  for  there  is 
no  power  on  the  face  of  this  globe  that  could  for  one 
moment  maintain  a  footing  on  American  soil.  The 
danger,  if  any  there  be,  will  come  from  the  sea,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  clearly  our  duty  to  be  in  a  constant 
state  of  preparation.  We  can  assemble  in  a  compara- 
tively short  time  a  million  or  more  fighting  men,  but  we 
cannot  improvise  fleets,  we  cannot  improvise  officers  and 
crews,  nor  can  we  improvise  ammunition.  It  is  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  we  always  be  prepared,  for  a  well- 
equipped  and  well-manned  navy  is  the  surest  guaranty 
of  peace,  and  the  safest  and  surest  that  this  nation  can 
have. 

Diplomacy  is  all  right  in  its  place,  but  that  diplomacy 
which  is  backed  up  by  a  strong  navy  is  bound  in  the 
long  run  to  win  out.  There  is  no  reason,  it  would  natu- 
rally seem,  why  disputes  between  nations  should  not  be 
settled  in  the  same  manner  as  disputes  between  indi- 
viduals; but  until  the  great  powers  have  agreed  upon 
the  establishment  of  an  international  court,  and  until 
they  have  agreed  that  all  disputes  of  whatever  nature 


46  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

or  character  shall  be  settled  by  that  court,  and  have 
established  the  machinery  also  for  carrying  into  effect 
the  judgments  and  decrees  of  that  court,  it  seems  to  me 
that  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  for  a  great  nation 
like  the  United  States  to  leave  itself  open  to  attack. 

What  we  want  is  a  navy  commensurate  with  the  dig- 
nity and  honor  of  this  nation;  a  navy  not  for  conquest, 
but  for  protection,  and  a  navy  strong  and  powerful 
enough  to  ward  off  any  attacks.  And  I  say  this,  not 
because  I  want  to  foster  or  promote  a  military  spirit, 
but  because  I  honestly  and  genuinely  believe  that  if  we 
want  permanent  peace  the  best  way  to  obtain  permanent 
peace  is  by  always  being  ready  for  war. 


THE  INITIATIVE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT 

EMORY  SPEER 
Federal  District  Judge,  Southern  District  of  Georgia 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  Yale  University,  May, 
1906.) 

It  is  sunset  at  Jolo  and  Zamboanga,  and  dawn  on 
New  England's  rugged  coast.  The  last  glance  of  the 
god  of  day  is  reflected  from  the  bayonet  of  the  lonely 
sentinel  who  walks  his  beat  on  the  uttermost  island  of 
that  distant  archipelago.  The  "rosy  blush  of  incense- 
breathing  morn"  glorifies  these  historical  waters,  and 
the  rushing  floods  of  his  oncoming  light  bathe  the  marble 
of  that  shaft  in  Washington  which  commemorates  a 
nation's  love  for  the  Father  of  his  Country. 


EMORY  SPEER  47 

Throughout  his  diurnal  progress,  if  progressive  at  all, 
that  self-same  orb  has  rejoiced  that  not  for  a  moment 
has  he  been  able  to  lose  sight  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
In  all  his  journey,  there  was  nothing  fairer  or  more 
enchanting  than  that  city  founded  by  the  argonauts  of 
'49,  whose  glories  have  been  painted  by  the  fascinating 
narrative  of  Stevenson,  the  witching  fancy  of  Bret  Harte. 
Brilliant,  joyous,  daring  San  Francisco,  combining  the 
enchantment  of  that  city  by  the  Seine,  typical  of  all 
that  is  charming  in  the  genius  and  love  of  beauty  of  the 
French  people,  with  the  oriental  mysteries  of  Bagdad, 
in  the  palmy  days  of  Haroun-al-Raschid.  There  one 
evening,  little  more  than  a  month  ago,  as  the  sun  sank 
behind  the  Farallones,  it  stood,  instinct  with  life,  energy, 
hope,  and  such  happiness  as  is  accorded  to  man.  With 
the  succeeding  dawn  its  crumbling  buildings  were  death- 
traps. Of  its  people  many  were  dead,  thousands  in 
agony  and  despair,  and,  more  terrible  than  all,  was  the 
glare  and  roar  of  the  oncoming  conflagration.  A  quarter 
of  a  million  of  men,  women,  children  shiver  on  the  hills 
hard  by.  The  railroads  have  sunken  into  the  earth,  the 
earthquake  has  riven  the  water-pipes  which  bring  the 
life-giving  supply.  There,  too,  were  demons  in  human 
form.  Such  creatures,  in  the  presence  of  helpless  and 
suffering  innocence,  relapse  to  the  cruelty,  the  merciless 
outrage  of  the  savage.  Has  hope  taken  flight  of  earth  ? 
Ah,  no,  there  is  yet  hope.  Across  the  continent  there 
is  one  whose  prompt  soul  is  instinct  with  love  and  pity 
for  his  fellowmen.  He  is  in  the  White  House.  The 
dreadful  story  comes.  He  takes  counsel  of  his  courage. 
Back  flashes  to  a  man  after  his  own  heart,  the  gallant 
Funston,   "Take  instant   charge,   declare  martial  law, 


48  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

suppress  disorder,  protect  the  people,  use  every  arm  of 
the  service  ashore  and  every  ship  upon  the  waters." 
Swift  appeal  is  made  to  Congress.  Nothing  loath,  that 
noble  body  throws  open  the  treasury  and  disburses 
millions  to  our  suffering  countrymen.  And  before  the 
fires  are  extinguished  and  the  subterranean  forces  of 
nature  cease  to  mutter,  order  reigns  in  San  Francisco, 
and  the  hearts  of  a  noble  people,  inspired  by  the  example 
of  their  President  for  their  suffering  brethren,  pour  out 
their  treasures  like  water.  And  yet,  in  vain  would  a 
certain  school  of  constructionists  look  for  any  word  or 
syllable  of  the  Constitution  which  justifies  this  or  any 
similar  action  on  the  part  of  the  President.  Nor  does 
this  pass  without  attention.  When  the  resolution  is 
offered  to  appropriate  two  millions  for  the  sufferers,  Mr. 
Williams,  the  leader  of  the  minority,  addressed  the  chair 
as  follows,  "Mr.  Speaker,  if  the  gentleman  will  yield  to 
me  for  a  moment,  I  wish  to  say  that  this  legislation  is  of 
such  exceptional  and  emergency  character,  that  it  ought 
to  override  all  preformed  conclusions.  For  that  reason 
I  shall  not  object  to  unanimous  consent  for  its  considera- 
tion." Our  countrymen  will  ever  accord  their  respect 
to  that  sturdy  minority  which  in  the  presence  of  an 
exigency  so  great  has  laid  aside  "preformed  conclusions" 
and  remembered  only  that  they  are  Americans.  But 
there  is  another  view  of  it. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  a  written  Constitution,  but  the 
fundamental  law  is  not  all  in  the  written  page.  Not- 
withstanding the  "preformed  conclusions"  of  the  dis- 
tinguished leader  of  the  minority  and  of  men  of  every 
party  who  may  think  with  him,  it  is  with  deference  sub- 
letted that  indisputable  precedents  and  the  evolution 


EMORY  SPEER  49 

of  the  American  system  authorizes  the  initiative  of  the 
President  as  the  direct  representative  of  the  people  in 
this  case  and  in  all  equivalent  cases,  whether  they  affect 
the  safety  of  that  people,  the  peace  of  the  United  States, 
or  the  strength  and  honor  of  the  nation  itself.  As  the 
mischief  of  the  old  Constitution  was  weakness,  the  great 
desideratum  of  the  new  one  was  strength.  As  the  old 
Constitution  operated  on  the  states,  it  was  determined 
that  the  new  one  should  operate  immediately  through 
its  courts  and  executive  upon  the  people.  Fortunate  is  it, 
indeed,  that  a  majority  of  Americans  have  believed  with 
Sir  James  Mcintosh  that  "Constitutions  are  not  made, 
they  grow  ";  that  they  held,  with  St.  Paul,  "Not  of  the 
letter,  but  of  the  spirit;  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the 
spirit  giveth  life."  When  the  occasion  arose  even  those 
leaders  of  strict  construction,  to  whom  that  rule  of  inter- 
pretation was  apparently  as  dear  as  papal  infallibility  to 
the  Holy  See,  swiftly  pocketed  their  preformed  con- 
clusions, trampled  on  their  own  doctrines,  with  vigor  and 
celerity,  and,  as  good  Americans  should  do,  acted  for  the 
incontestable  interest  of  the  country. 


CALIFORNIA  AND   WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 

GEORGE  A.   KNIGHT 
Of  the  San  Francisco  Bar 

(A  speech  seconding  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Taft  for  President, 
at  the  Republican  National  Convention,  Chicago,  June  18,  1908.) 

Not  many  weeks  ago,  when  the  month  of  May  was 
young  in  days,  it  was  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to  view 


50  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

one  of  the  most  impressive  scenes  that  human  eyes  ever 
witnessed.  Our  naval  fleet,  Columbia's  guardians  of  the 
peace  of  seas,  had  steamed  their  way  from  the  Atlantic 
to  our  Golden  Gate  and  dropped  their  anchors  in  the 
beautiful  bay  of  San  Francisco,  an  achievement  without 
mishap  and  a  voyage  replete  with  the  lesson  of  our  mari- 
time power.  The  occasion  turned  back  pages  of  half- 
forgotten  history  and  flashed  again  on  the  horizon  of  the 
fiery  sea  all  of  the  names  of  our  naval  heroes  and  their 
deeds  of  valor  and  the  ships  of  their  command. 

The  panorama  of  that  day  will  never  be  forgotten.  It 
will  live  in  type  and  ever  be  told  in  history  and  story. 
On  the  hills  that  slope  toward  the  bay,  half  hidden  in  banks 
of  golden  poppies,  half  a  million  people  sat  as  in  a  great 
dress  circle  and  witnessed  the  coming  of  that  most  majestic 
power.  The  magnificent  bay  was  transformed  into  a 
stadium  and  as  each  battle-ship  passed  through  the  Golden 
Gate,  maintaining  such  an  equality  of  distance  and  pre- 
cision of  military  exactness  that  all  wondered  if  it  could 
be  possible  they  were  human  and  could  hear  commands. 
Amid  blasts  of  whistles,  music  of  bands,  cheers  of  multi- 
tude, and  joyous  acclaim  of  thousands  who  cheered  duty 
performed,  Fighting  Bob  Evans  dropped  the  anchor  of 
his  flag-ship  and  his  active  life's  work  was  done.  Storm- 
tanned  veteran  of  the  sea,  you  passed  the  ensign  of 
command  to  the  next  in  fine  and  another  page  in  history 
is  honored  by  your  name. 

From  that  imposing  picture  of  beauty  and  instructive 
power  I  came  here  and  stand  to-day  in  this  Republican 
Convention.  The  forum,  where  the  story  of  our  nation 
should  be  ever  new,  the  click  of  the  telegraph,  and  the 
descriptive  type  of  a  progressive   press  will    bring  to 


GEORGE  A.  KNIGHT  51 

homes  of  America  the  speeches  that  you  heard  to-day  and 
the  work  done  for  our  country's  future.  Here  in  this 
great  amphitheater  the  Republican  party  is  in  counsel 
with  itself. 

This  assemblage  is  an  impressive  one  beyond  power 
of  words  and  its  responsibilities  beyond  comprehension 
of  any  people  save  American.  Four  years  ago  in  this 
Coliseum  we  met  and  nominated  our  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent. His  strong  individuality,  unimpeachable  integrity, 
and  recognized  ability  made  him  the  popular  idol  of  the 
people  and  the  invincible  leader.  He  has  directed  the 
course  of  our  country  through  the  troubled  waters,  as 
variable  as  human  action  and  thought.  His  administra- 
tion has  been  as  vivid  and  meteoric  as  the  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter,  and  it  has  done  as  much  for  the  stability  of  our 
Government  as  the  plenteous  products  of  the  mill,  farm, 
and  mine. 

And  now  the  time  has  come  for  this  historic  organiza- 
tion to  again  choose  an  Executive  whose  fitness  is  up  to 
the  high  standards  of  the  past.  It  is  not  often  that 
occasion  calls  upon  experience  to  walk  the  path  of  high 
official  life  in  true  companionship,  but  forceful  circum- 
stances writes  at  the  most  opportune  time  of  William  H. 
Taft  as  a  leader  of  men.  His  personal  character,  blended 
with  ability  and  experience,  is  a  trinity  of  power  that 
makes  him  a  fit  successor  of  those  who  have  enriched  our 
history  with  their  patriotic  lives.  California  joins  in  the 
nomination  of  William  H.  Taft,  collegian,  lawyer,  judge, 
diplomat,  true  American,  commended  as  our  ideal  leader 
of  the  host  that  shall  ever  be  aggressive  in  the  cause 
of  individual  liberty,  for  the  enforcement  of  all  laws 
and  the  great  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the  party 


52  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

of  Union  and  progress.    With  such  a  leader  we  knew 
that  "the  scepter  shall  not  depart  from  Judah  until  Shiloh 


WILLIAM  H.  TAFT  FOR  PRESIDENT 

THEODORE  E.   BURTON 
Congressman  from  Ohio 

(Condensed  from  his  speech  nominating  Mr.  Taft  for  the  presi- 
dency, at  the  Republican  National  Convention,  Chicago,  June  18, 
1908.) 

Again  Ohio  presents  a  candidate  to  the  National 
Republican  Convention.  In  seven  stubbornly  contested 
presidential  campaigns  sons  of  her  sacred  soil  have  led 
the  embattled  Republican  hosts  to  victory.  The  Buckeye 
State  has  assuredly  contributed  her  share  of  statesmen 
and  generals  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  nation.  But  that 
of  which  we  are  prouder  still  is  her  stalwart  citizenship 
—  the  mightiest  bulwark  of  the  republic  in  every  com- 
monwealth made  up  of  America's  free  yeomen,  ever  ready 
to  respond  to  the  tocsin  of  alarm  in  days  of  peril,  or  to 
crush  corruption  whenever  it  raises  its  menacing  head. 
From  this  citizenship  Ohio,  in  the  supreme  emergency  of 
the  Civil  War,  sent  forth  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
soldiers  for  our  country's  defense,  a  formidable  array 
easily  surpassing  in  numbers  the  world-conquering  legions 
of  imperial  Caesar,  and  even  larger  than  any  army  ever 
mustered  by  Britain  for  the  tented  field.  But  tran- 
scendent above  all  is  the  fact  that  Ohio  is  one  of  a  match- 


THEODORE  E.  BURTON  53 

less  union  of  states  linked  together  in  everlasting  bonds 
of  amity  and  constituting  an  empire  wonderful  in  power 
and  most  immeasurable  in  extent.  Each  sovereign  state 
alone  would  occupy  but  a  subordinate  place  in  the  great 
current  of  the  world's  events,  but  when  represented  by 
one  of  forty-six  bright  stars  on  a  field  of  stainless  blue, 
every  one  forms  part  of  an  emblem  of  union  and  of  strength 
more  beautiful  far  than  the  most  brilliant  constellation 
in  the  heavens. 

We  welcome  the  friendly  rivalry  of  candidates  from 
other  states  —  from  the  great  Empire  State,  the  Keystone 
State,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  forming  with 
Ohio  a  broad  expanse  extending  in  unbroken  sweep  from 
old  ocean  to  the  uppermost  bound  of  the  greatest  of 
inland  seas.  Each  of  these  presents  a  leader  among 
leaders  whose  achievements  and  renown  are  not  confined 
to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  single  commonwealth.  To-day 
with  fervid  earnestness  we  wage  a  contest  for  the  prize. 
To-morrow,  united  for  the  fray  and  quickened  by  a  com- 
mon fiery  zeal,  the  champions  of  all  the  candidates  will 
go  forth  with  mounting  enthusiasm  to  vanquish  the  foe. 

Secretary  Taft  has  exceptional  familiarity  with  condi- 
tions in  the  distant  Orient  —  in  Japan,  in  China.  We 
may  rest  assured  that  our  traditional  friendship  with 
Japan  will  continue.  Moreover,  the  future  promises  that 
the  slumbering  millions  of  China  will  awake  from  the 
lethargy  of  ages,  and  she  then  will  realize  that  the  morn- 
ing dawn  of  fresher  life  and  wider  outlook  comes  to  her 
across  the  broad  Pacific,  from  free  America,  her  truest 
friend  and  helper.  We  covet  no  portion  of  her  territory. 
We  desire  from  her,  as  from  all  nations,  increased  good- 
will and  that  mutual  respect  which  knows  neither  bluster 


54  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

nor  cringing  on  either  side.  Thus,  in  this  new  era  of 
larger  relations,  Secretary  Taft,  with  his  comprehension 
of  national  and  international  subjects,  would  furnish  a 
certainty  of  peace  and  sustained  prestige.  Under  him, 
at  home  and  everywhere,  this  mighty  people  would  have 
an  assured  confidence  in  the  secure  development  and 
progress  of  the  country  and  would  rest  safe  in  the  reliance 
that  a  Chief  Executive  was  at  the  helm  who,  in  peace  or 
in  war,  would  guide  the  destinies  of  the  nation  with  a 
strong  hand  and  with  a  gentle,  patriotic  heart. 

And  so  to-day,  in  the  presence  of  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand, and  with  the  inspiring  thought  of  the  well-nigh 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  who  dwell  within  our 
borders,  I  nominate  for  the  presidency  that  perfect  type 
of  American  manhood,  that  peerless  representative  of 
the  noblest  ideals  in  our  national  life,  William  H.  Taft, 
of  Ohio. 


WILLIAM  J.   BRYAN  FOR  PRESIDENT 

OLLIE  M.   JAMES 

Congressman  from  Kentucky 

(Condensed  from  his  speech  in  seconding  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Bryan  for  President,  in  the  Democratic  National  Convention, 
Denver,  Colorado,  July  10,  1908.) 

The  immortal  spirits  whose  hands  guided  the  infant 
steps  of  this  republic,  whose  blood  consecrated  and  made 
this  land  Liberty's  dearest  shrine,  cry  out  to  each  of  the 
millions  of  voters  into  whose  hands  the  future  destiny 


OLLIE  M.  JAMES  55 

of  this  Union  was  lodged,  "  Watchman,  what  of  the  night?" 
And,  sir,  from  the  orange  groves  of  Florida  to  the  waving 
wheat  fields  of  the  Northwest;  from  the  nodding  pines 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  across  the  Rockies  to  the  slope 
by  the  peaceful  sea,  the  men,  with  ballot  in  hand,  eight 
million  strong,  answer,  "The  morning  cometh,"  the 
morning  of  Democratic  victory,  the  morning  of  the  repub- 
lic's hope,  as  fresh  with  the  dew  of  promise  of  the  repub- 
lic, loved  by  every  heart  and  defended  by  every  hand,  as 
when  the  dawn  of  liberty  first  tinted  the  colonial  skies, 
proclaiming  the  Golden  Rule  of  all  republics,  that  this 
Government  will  not  do  for  the  greatest  what  it  would 
deny  to  the  humblest;  a  Government  which  offers  to  the 
wearer  of  the  crown  of  a  king  and  to  the  bearer  of  the 
staff  of  the  shepherd  the  same  justice. 

Jefferson  had  the  courage  to  write  in  front  of  a  tyrant 
and  his  army  the  immortal  words,  "that  governments 
derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. " 
Bryan  raised  in  front  of  the  mightiest  arm  of  predatory 
tyrants  the  world  ever  saw  the  commandment,  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal.' '  He  foresaw  the  danger  of  monopolies, 
combinations,  and  trusts  long  before  his  fellows.  He  was 
the  pioneer  in  the  wilderness.  The  path  that  he  trod, 
like  the  path  always  of  the  pioneer,  was  one  red  with 
blood  and  wet  with  tears,  but  his  name  lives,  and  though 
unable  to  convince  the  jury,  which  was  packed  and  cor- 
rupted, his  triumph  was  greater  than  their  verdict  for 
him  would  have  been,  for  he  convinced  his  adversary  of 
the  righteousness  of  his  cause.  His  voice  has  been 
raised  for  oppressed  humanity  in  every  state  in  the 
Union,  and  in  lands  lashed  by  the  distant  seas.  He 
has  charmed  the  common  people  of  the  earth,  from  far- 


56  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

away  Russia  round  the  globe,  with  the  plain  truth  of 
democracy.  He  is  the  ablest,  bravest,  and  most  eloquent 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  plain  people  that  the  sun 
shines  on.  He  has  been  honored  as  no  other  American 
by  all  peoples  in  all  lands,  from  the  peasant  who  hopes 
for  liberty  to  the  king  who  fears  it. 

I  saw  him  measure  with  the  great  men  of  the  earth. 
I  saw  him  stand  beside  D'Estournelles  de  Constant,  of 
France;  Count Apponyi, of  Hungary;  Sir  Henry  Campbell- 
Bannerman,  of  England;  Baron  Von  Plener,  of  Austria; 
and  there  he  stood — like  Saul  among  his  brethren — head 
and  shoulders  above  them  all.  I  saw  him  stand  in  the 
Royal  Gallery  by  the  Thames  in  London;  I  saw  him  there 
addressing  the  representatives  of  twenty-six  nations  of 
the  earth.  I  heard  him  there  plead  for  peace,  within 
touch  of  Buckingham  Palace,  within  hearing  of  the 
requiem  sung  for  the  sailor  and  soldier  dead  in  West- 
minster Abbey;  there,  within  sight  of  the  statue  of  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion,  within  hearing  of  the  tramp  of  the  King's 
army,  and  I  was  prouder  of  him  than  ever  before,  because 
he  had  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  peace  as  no  man  before 
him  ever  had  and  as  no  man  after  him  ever  will.  He 
does  not  belong  to  Nebraska;  he  does  not  belong  to 
America;  he  belongs  to  humanity  and  to  the  world. 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  name  of  all  men  who  ask  no 
legislative  aid  in  the  conflict  of  life,  those  who  only  ask 
an  equal  chance  with  their  brothers  in  the  battle  for 
bread;  in  the  name  of  that  immortal  Democrat  who 
hung  high  in  the  sky  of  our  country  the  rainbow  of  prom- 
ise of  "equal  rights  to  all,  and  special  privileges  to  none"; 
in  the  name  of  those  millions  of  our  countrymen  who  sing 
the  songs  of  liberty  in  time  of  peace,  and  fight  the  battles 


HENRY  CABOT  LODGE  57 

of  this  republic  in  time  of  war;  in  the  name  of  three 
million  idle,  hungry  men  with  empty  dinner-pails  which 
have  to  be  filled  from  trust-controlled  products;  in  the 
name  of  men  who  love  liberty,  and  believe  republics 
were  not  born  to  die;  in  the  name  of  the  men  who  woo 
from  the  soil  the  substance  which  feeds  and  clothes  the 
world;  in  the  name  of  the  millions  of  men  in  the  shops 
and  factories,  at  the  anvil,  the  bench,  the  forge,  and  the 
spindle,  who  only  beg  this  Government  to  be  just  enough 
to  allow  them  to  educate  their  children,  serve  their  God 
and  love  their  country;  in  the  name  of  those  who  yet 
recall  with  the  tingle  of  the  blood  the  heroism  of  the 
fathers  who  gave  this  republic  to  us,  I  second  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  knightliest  gladiator  Democracy  has  ever 
known  —  William  J.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  AND  THE  DEMOCRATIC 
PARTIES 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE 

United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts 

(A  speech  delivered  at  the  Republican  National  Convention, 
Chicago,  June  17,  1908,  upon  assuming  the  position  of  permanent 
chairman.) 

No  political  party  in  modern  times  can  show  such  a 
record  of  achievement  during  the  last  fifty  years  as  the 
Republican  party.  Upon  that  record  we  can  stand  and 
challenge  all  comers  to  the  lists.  But  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  test  we  have  to  meet  is  much  less  severe. 


58  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

This  is  a  comparative  world.  We  do  not  go  forth  to 
contest  the  great  prize  with  an  ideal  party,  which  we 
sometimes  see  beautifully  depicted  by  persons  of  self- 
confessed  superiority  and  chronic  discontent.  The  glit- 
tering abstraction  which  they  present  never  existed  yet 
on  sea  or  land.  It  gleams  upon  us  in  printers'  ink,  but 
it  has  neither  substance,  nor  organization,  nor  candidates, 
for  organizations  and  candidates  must  be  taken  from  the 
ranks  of  men  and  cannot  be  the  floating  phantoms  of 
an  uneasy  dream. 

The  American  people  must  choose  between  us  and  the 
Democratic  party.  We  differ  from  that  party  in  some 
important  particulars.  We  both,  it  is  true,  have  a  past 
and  a  history,  but  we  treat  those  possessions  very  differ- 
ently. They  wish  to  keep  their  past  a  profound  secret. 
We  seek  by  all  means  to  publish  ours  to  the  world.  If 
we  refer  to  their  history  they  charge  us  with  calumny. 
We  regard  ours,  truthful  and  undistorted,  as  our  greatest 
glory.  To  the  youth  of  the  country  they  say,  "Judge 
us  solely  by  our  undiscovered  future."  We  say,  "Read 
our  record,  judge  us  by  our  past  and  our  present  and  from 
these  learn  what  we  are,  what  we  have  been,  and  what 
we  mean  to  be."  Recall  the  cries  which  have  sounded 
from  the  lips  of  these  two  parties  during  the  last  half 
century.  On  the  one  side,  "Slavery,  secession,  repudi- 
ation of  the  public  debt,  fiat  money,  free  trade,  free 
silver,  the  overthrow  of  the  courts  and  Government 
ownership."  On  the  Republican  side,  "Free  soil,  free 
men,  the  Union,  the  payment  of  the  debt,  honest  money, 
protection  to  American  industry,  the  gold  standard,  the 
maintenance  of  law,  of  order  and  of  the  courts,  and  the 
Government  regulation  of  great  corporations."    The  old 


HENRY  CABOT  LODGE  59 

shibboleths  of  the  Democrats  are  to-day  the  epitaphs  of 
policies  which  are  dead  and  damned.  They  serve  only 
to  remind  us  of  dangers  escaped  or  to  warn  us  of  perils 
to  be  shunned.  The  battle-cries  of  the  Republicans  have 
been  the  watchwords  of  great  causes.  They  tell  of  vic- 
tories won  and  triumphs  tasted — they  are  embodied  in  the 
laws  and  mark  the  stepping-stones  by  which  the  republic 
has  risen  to  even  greater  heights  of  power  and  prosperity. 

As  we  thus  call  up  the  past  and  the  echoes  of  these  old 
conflicts  again  sound  in  our  ears  and  touch  the  chords 
of  memory,  one  great  fact  stands  forth,  clear  and  shining. 
The  Republican  party  has  never  failed  except  when  it  has 
faltered.  Our  long  career  of  victory,  so  rarely  broken,  has 
been  due  to  our  meeting  boldly  each  question  as  it  arose,  to 
our  facing  every  danger  as  it  crossed  our  path,  with  entire 
courage,  fearless  of  consequences  and  determined  only  to 
be  true  to  the  principles  which  brought  the  party  into  exist- 
ence and  to  the  spirit  which  has  inspired  it  from  its  birth. 

We  ask  for  the  confidence  and  support  of  the  American 
people  because  we  have  met  the  problems  of  the  day  and 
have  tried  patiently  to  solve  them.  We  make  our  appeal 
with  confidence  because  we  have  a  well-defined  policy 
and  are  not,  like  our  opponents,  fumbling  in  the  dark 
to  find  some  opinion  on  something. 

We  believe  in  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order  and 
in  the  support  of  the  courts  in  all  their  rights  and  dignity. 
We  believe  in  equal  rights  for  all  men  and  are  opposed 
to  special  privileges  for  any  man,  or  any  class  of  men, 
high  or  low,  rich  or  poor.  We,  who  established  the  gold 
standard,  are  pledged  to  the  cause  of  sound  finance.  We 
stand  for  protection  to  American  industry  and  American 
labor,  and  we  will  resist  all  the  assaults  of  free  trade, 


60  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

under  whatever  name  it  comes  disguised.  We  will  see 
to  the  defense  of  the  country.  We  mean  to  have  a  navy 
worthy  of  the  American  name.  We  seek  peace  and 
friendship  with  all  the  nations,  but  alliance  with  none. 
Yet  we  have  no  intention  of  being  a  "hermit  nation." 
The  great  services  of  the  President  to  the  world's  peace 
will  be  continued  by  the  party  which  he  has  led.  We 
are  a  party  fit  to  rule  and  govern,  to  legislate  and  admin- 
ister, and  not  a  fortuitous  collection  of  stone  whose  only 
form  of  thought  or  motion  is  to  oppose.  Above  all,  we 
are  true  to  our  traditions  and  to  our  past  —  true  now, 
as  we  were  in  the  days  of  Lincoln. 

In  this  spirit  we  must  prevail  —  "  by  this  sign  "  we 
must  "conquer." 


"STAND  PAT,"  SOCIALISM,  AND  DEMOCRACY 

MORRIS  SHEPPARD 
Congressman  from  Texas 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives January  16,  1907.) 

Accustomed  to  limitless  and  perpetual  power,  the 
Republican  party  has  drifted  into  a  complete  paralysis, 
a  hopeless  inertia.  "Stand  pat"  is  merely  another  expres- 
sion for  dry  rot.  Swollen  with  the  spoils  of  office,  corpu- 
lent with  the  wine  of  power,  distended  with  the  dropsy 
of  corruption,  the  Republican  party  drags  its  huge, 
infected  body  across  the  halls  of  state,  helpless  among 
the  trophies  of  the  past,  powerless  alike  before  the  prob- 


MORRIS  SHEPPARD  61 

lems  of  the  present  and  the  retribution  of  the  future, 
while  its  coward  lips  wail  out,  "Stand  pat,  stand  pat!" 
"Stand  pat,"  although  the  pillage  of  the  people  never 
ceases;  "stand  pat,"  although  the  wealth  of  the  republic 
is  by  a  ruthless  tariff  law  transferred  from  the  millions 
who  support  to  the  masters  who  exploit  it;  "stand  pat," 
although  the  enormous  rates  incite  the  antagonism  of  the 
world  and  imperil  our  foreign  trade;  "stand  pat,"  although 
McKinley  pleaded  from  the  door-step  of  the  grave  for 
lower  tariffs;  "stand  pat,"  although  patriotic  Republicans 
of  Massachusetts,  Iowa,  and  all  the  country  unite  in  the 
general  prayer  for  less  oppressive  schedules;  "stand  pat," 
although  our  loftiest  principle,  the  very  soul  of  the  repub- 
lic, the  principle  in  the  name  of  which  our  country  was 
consecrated  in  the  blood  and  tears  of  patriots,  the  prin- 
ciple of  government  by  the  governed's  will,  has  been 
abandoned  in  Republican  policies  abroad;  "stand  pat," 
although  the  expenditure  of  the  public  moneys  has 
become  a  riotous  dissipation,  a  wanton  waste. 

A  small  but  entirely  sincere  element  of  the  people,  in 
utter  despair  over  Republican  conditions,  have  fallen 
into  Socialism,  into  the  violence  and  iconoclasm  of  ultra- 
radicalism.  In  seeking  a  remedy  for  existing  evils  the 
Socialist  would  give  us  still  more  serious  ones.  He  would 
overturn  the  basic  institutions  of  our  civilization;  he 
would  uproot  the  foundations  of  individualism  and  free- 
dom. He  forgets  the  lessons  of  history  and  the  make-up 
of  the  human  nature,  for  history  and  experience  teach 
us  that  when  the  Government  owns  everything  it  is  not 
long  before  somebody  owns  the  Government.  The 
Socialist  would  abolish  the  private  ownership  of  land. 
But  without  the  private  ownership  of  land,  what  would 


6*  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

become  of  the  individual  ownership  of  home,  the  very 
corner-stone  of  civilization?  Without  the  individual 
ownership  of  home,  how  long  would  the  institution  of 
marriage  retain  its  sacredness?  The  glory  of  English 
liberty,  our  brightest  heritage,  has  proceeded  from  the 
sanctity  which  has  ever  surrounded  the  humblest  English 
home.  Said  Chatham,  in  the  British  Parliament,  "The 
poorest  man  may  in  his  cottage  bid  defiance  to  all  the 
forces  of  the  Crown.  It  may  be  frail;  its  roof  may  shake; 
the  wind  may  blow  through  it;  the  storms  may  enter; 
the  rain  may  enter,  but  the  King  of  England  cannot 
enter!  All  his  forces  dare  not  cross  the  threshold  of  the 
ruined  tenement."  What  sacredness  would  attach  to  a 
so-called  home  in  which  a  man  knew  that  every  other 
man  in  the  country,  of  whatever  race,  had  an  equal 
interest?  Socialism  would  wreck  our  civilization  and 
remit  us  to  savagery. 

The  Democratic  party  would  apply  to  society  and  its 
varying  emergencies  the  principles  of  equality  and  brother- 
hood, the  principles  which  its  founder  embodied  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  which  constitute  the 
underlying  spirit  of  American  institutions.  They  tell  us 
that  the  Democracy  changes  its  issues  at  each  election. 
We  answer  that  the  basic  principle  of  the  Democracy, 
the  principle  of  equal  rights,  never  changes,  although  its 
application  to  new  conditions  naturally  develops  new 
measures,  and  that  thus  the  Democracy  keeps  step  with 
time.  Thus  the  Democracy  applies  an  eternal  principle  to 
unfolding  events.  Thus  it  adopts  new  measures  when  new 
measures  are  necessary  to  the  application  of  this  principle. 
Thus  it  occupies  a  rational  middle  ground  between  the 
ultra-conservatism,  which  would  preserve  existing  con- 


THOMAS  E.  WATSON  63 

ditions  at  any  cost,  and  the  ultra-radicalism  which  would 
overturn  the  foundations  of  society.  We  say  to  the  Re- 
publican stand-patter,"  You  cannot  arrest  the  tide  of  prog- 
ress; the  tariff  must  be  revised,  the  doctrine  of  government 
by  the  governed's  will  must  be  restored,  economy  must  be 
practised  in  the  Government  expenditure."  We  say  to  the 
Socialist,  "You  cannot  uproot  the  fundamental  institu- 
tions of  home  and  land  and  property  without  precipitating 
both  anarchy  and  savagery."  Paraphrasing  the  idea  of 
another,  the  situation  may  be  thus  described:  Plutocracy 
and. Republicanism  say," Stand  pat;  let  evils  rage";  Social- 
ism shouts,  "Pull  down  the  temple,  though  it  crush  us  in 
its  fall";  the  Democracy,  applying  the  deathless  principle 
of  equal  rights,  cries  to  all  the  struggling  race  of  man, 
"Forward,  march;  keep  a  just  and  even  step  with  time." 


POPULISM 

THOMAS  E.   WATSON 
Editor  of  "The  Jeffersonian"  Thomson,  Georgia 

(Extract  from  his  speech  in  accepting  the  nomination  for  Presi- 
dent as  candidate  of  the  People's  party,  1908.) 

"History  repeats  itself,"  and  to-day  we  have  in  our 
own  republic  every  abuse  against  which  the  Roman 
populares  made  war. 

Our  public  domain  has  been  preyed  upon  by  million- 
aire plunderers  and  land-grabbing  corporations  until  the 
American  people  have  been  stripped  of  a  territory  larger 
than  that  over  which  soars  the  black  eagle  of  Germany. 


64  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

In  all  directions  the  terrific  energy  of  the  corporation  has 
driven  the  public  off  the  public  domain.  Our  streets 
have  been  seized  by  telegraph,  telephone,  and  railroad 
companies.  The  iron  horse  monopolizes  the  main  line 
of  public  travel,  and,  instead  of  belonging  to  the  public, 
as  it  should,  the  horse,  as  well  as  the  vehicle  and  the 
road,  is  private  property. 

Antiquity  was  scandalized  when  Cleopatra  dissolved 
and  drank  a  pearl  valued  at  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars;  and  historians  comment  in  a  tone  of  rebuke  upon 
the  luxuries  of  Lucullus,  who  spent  eight  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  on  a  feast.  When  one  of  our  American 
millionaires  throws  open  the  grand  ball-room  for  a  night 
of  revelry,  the  flowers  cost  more  than  the  feast  of  Lucullus. 
And  when  one  of  our  Cleopatras  fancies  that  she  is  fasci- 
nated by  some  roving  Mark  Anthony  —  some  English 
duke,  Italian  prince,  French  count,  or  Hungarian  sneeze- 
weed  —  she  thinks  nothing  of  spending  from  one  to  five 
million  dollars  on  the  "Pearl."  In  Cleopatra's  case  the 
gem  was  merely  a  casual  product  of  nature;  in  the  modern 
instances  every  dollar  that  goes  abroad  to  pay  for  foreign 
titles  and  minister  to  the  depraved  appetites  of  aristo- 
cratic debauches  is  the  product  of  the  American  laborer's 
toil. 

The  Latins  sunk  under  the  weight  of  special  privilege. 
But  we  Americans  are  descendants  of  the  Teutonic 
peoples  —  a  stronger  race  than  the  Latins.  It  was  the 
victory  of  our  heroic  ancestors  in  the  woods  of  Germany 
—  annihilating  the  Roman  force  —  that  called  to  the  lips 
of  the  Emperor  Augustus  the  cry,  "Oh,  Varus,  give  me 
back  my  legions!"  And  if  we  tamely  submit  to  the 
financial  aristocracy  which  erects  its  strongholds  upon 


THOMAS  E.  WATSON  65 

the  heights  of  special  privilege  and  from  these  lofty 
battlements  sends  forth  the  marauding  statutes  that 
hold  us  up  on  every  highway  and  rob  us  of  what  is  ours 
—  if  we  yield  to  those  insolent  and  insatiable  plutocrats 
without  a  fight,  we  will  be  the  first  branch  of  the  great 
Teutonic  family  that  ever  disgraced  itself  by  such  a 
pusillanimous  surrender. 

I,  for  one,  am  pro  ad  of  a  record  of  prolonged,  con- 
sistent, and  determined  battle  against  the  infamous  class 
legislation  whose  yoke  we  bear.  And  because  of  this 
record  and  because  my  comrades  call  me,  and  because 
of  the  memory  of  the  thousands  of  the  men  of  the  Old 
Guard  of  Populism  who  as  long  as  they  lived  stood  by 
me,  and  believed  in  me  and  loved  me,  and  because  the 
monitor  that  speaks  to  me  from  within  says,  Do  it,  I 
accept  the  nomination  which  my  party  has  tendered. 

In  ancient  times  they  had  no  easy  way  of  making  a 
fire.  Yet  it  happened,  time  and  again,  that  there  was 
no  light  to  be  had.  The  fires  had  been  neglected,  every- 
where, and  the  whole  nation  found  itself  in  darkness. 
In  Rome  the  preservation  of  the  fire  was  given  a  sacred 
character;  a  temple  was  built  for  the  service,  and  those 
who  were  set  apart  to  feed  the  flame  were  consecrated 
as  to  a  religious  duty.  Within  the  temple,  night  and 
day,  winter  and  summer,  year  in  and  year  out,  the  vestal 
virgin  watched  her  sacred  flame.  Roman  eagles  might 
be  flying  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth;  Roman 
legions  might  be  camping  on  the  distant  Rhine,  or  chasing 
Picts  and  Scots  to  the  Grampian  Hills,  or  forming  lines 
of  battle  upon  the  Euphrates  —  but  in  the  temple,  at 
Rome,  would  be  found  the  eternal  fire,  with  the  vestals 
feeding  it,  night  and  day. 


66  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Oh,  my  countrymen!  Each  of  us  is  a  temple,  within 
each  of  us  was  lit  the  sacred  fire,  within  each  of  us  are 
the  better  angels  of  our  nature,  whose  eternal  vigilance 
is  needed  to  keep  the  temple  pure  and  the  light  trimmed 
and  burning.  Let  us,  then,  consecrate  the  temple;  keep 
pure  and  perpetual  the  vestal  service;  for  it  is  moral 
death  to  the  individual  to  neglect  the  fire;  it  is  moral 
death  to  the  nation  to  lose  the  light. 


SOCIALISM 

EUGENE  V.  DEBS 
Socialist-Labor  candidate  for  President,  igo8 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  Girard,  Kansas,  May  23, 
1908.) 

It  is  a  basic  economic  proposition  that  as  long  as  a 
relatively  few  men  own  the  railroads,  the  telegraph,  the 
telephone,  own  the  oil  fields  and  the  gas  fields  and  the 
steel  mills  and  the  sugar  refineries  and  the  leather  tan- 
neries—  own,  in  short,  the  sources  and  means  of  life  — 
they  will  corrupt  our  politics,  they  will  enslave  the  work- 
ing class,  they  will  impoverish  and  debase  society,  they 
will  do  all  things  that  are  needful  to  perpetuate  their 
power  as  the  economic  masters  and  the  political  rulers 
of  the  people.  Not  until  these  great  agencies  are  owned 
and  operated  by  the  people  can  the  people  hope  for  any 
material  improvement  in  their  social  condition. 

Now  we  Socialists  propose  that  society  in  its  collective 
capacity  shall  produce,  not  for  profit,  but  in  abundance 


EUGENE  V.  DEBS  67 

to  satisfy  human  wants;  that  every  man  shall  have  the 
inalienable  right  to  work,  and  receive  the  full  equivalent 
of  all  he  produces;  that  every  man  may  stand  fearlessly 
erect  in  the  pride  and  majesty  of  his  own  manhood. 
1  Every  man  and  every  woman  will  then  be  econom- 
ically free.  They  can,  without  let  or  hindrance,  apply 
their  labor,  with  the  best  machinery  that  can  be  devised, 
to  all  the  natural  resources,  do  the  work  of  society  and 
produce  for  all;  and  then  receive  in  exchange  a  certificate 
of  value  equivalent  to  that  of  their  production.  Then 
society  will  improve  its  institutions  in  proportion  to  the 
progress  of  invention.  Whether  in  the  city  or  on  the 
farm,  all  things  productive  will  be  carried  forward  on  a 
gigantic  scale.  All  industry  will  be  completely  organized. 
Society  for  the  first  time  will  have  a  scientific  foundation. 

We  are  not  going  to  destroy  private  property.  We  are 
going  to  establish  private  property  —  all  the  private 
property  necessary  to  house  man,  keep  him  in  comfort, 
and  satisfy  his  wants.  Eighty  per  cent  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  no  property  to-day.  A  few  have 
got  it  all. 

Competition  was  natural  enough  at  one  time,  but  do 
you  think  you  are  competing  to-day?  Many  of  you 
think  you  are  competing.  Against  whom?  Against 
Rockefeller?  About  as  I  would  if  I  had  a  wheelbarrow 
and  competed  with  the  Santa  Fe  from  here  to  Kansas 
City.  That  is  about  the  way  you  are  competing;  but 
your  boys  will  not  have  even  that  chance  —  if  capitalism 
lives  that  long. 

I  am  not  a  prophet.  I  can  no  more  penetrate  the 
future  than  you  can.  I  do  study  the  forces  that  underlie 
society  and  the  trend  of  evolution.    I  can  tell  by  what 


68  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

wc  have  passed  through  about  what  we  will  have  in  the 
future;  and  I  know  that  capitalism  can  be  abolished  and 
the  people  put  in  possession.  Now,  when  we  have  taken 
possession,  and  we  jointly  own  the  means  of  production, 
we  will  no  longer  have  to  fight  each  other  to  live;  our 
interests,  instead  of  being  competitive,  will  be  cooperative. 
We  will  work  side  by  side.  Your  interest  will  be  mine 
and  mine  will  be  yours.  That  is  the  economic  condition 
from  which  will  spring  the  humane  social  relation  of  the 
future. 

When  we  are  in  partnership  and  have  stopped  clutching 
each  other's  throats,  when  we  have  stopped  enslaving 
each  other,  we  will  stand  together,  hands  clasped,  and 
be  friends.  We  will  be  comrades,  we  will  be  brothers, 
and  we  will  begin  the  march  to  the  grandest  civilization 
the  human  race  has  ever  known. 


AMERICANISM 

GUY  CARLETON  LEE 
Lecturer  and  Publicist 

(Excerpt  from  his  lecture,  "When  the  People  Wake,"  delivered 
on  various  occasions  from  the  Lyceum  platform.) 

It  we  reject  socialism,  communism,  individualism,  and 
monarchism,  as  plans  for  the  bettering  of  the  condition 
of  society,  what  have  we  left?  I  can  answer  you:  We 
have  something  better  than  communism  as  it  has  been 
practised;  better  than  socialism  as  to-day  taught;  better 
than  individualism  as  it  is  urged  by  the  class;  better  than 


GUY  CARLETON  LEE  69 

monarchism,  always  a  failure.  What  we  have  is  so 
powerful  that  it  will  overcome  existing  evils  and  cure 
discontent;  it  is  so  powerful  that  it  will  remove  the  cause 
of  unrest  and  give  to  the  people  the  justice  they  deserve 
—  it  is  Americanism. 

Yes,  not  in  a  theory  of  another  day  and  of  another 
country  can  we  find  complete  relief  in  this  our  time  of 
need;  but  we  can  turn  confidently  to  Americanism,  and  in 
it  find  the  salvation  of  the  nation.  How  is  Americanism 
made  up?  From  socialism  it  takes  its  fine  regard  for 
the  rights  of  the  minority,  the  weak,  the  inefficient.  It 
takes  also  from  socialism  its  theory  that  society,  as  such, 
deserves  the  first  consideration  of  its  members;  its  formu- 
lary that  we  owe  to  our  neighbors  duties  the  like  of  which 
we  consider  that  they  owe  us  —  honesty,  kindness,  love. 
These  things  we  take  from  socialism,  for  they  are  abiding 
principles  of  social  happiness  and  man  is  a  social  creature. 

From  individualism  we  take  the  bold  initiative  that 
is  not  bound  by  tradition,  but  is  continually  reaching 
out  to  labor  into  new  fields  of  endeavor.  We  take,  too, 
the  desire  to  better  the  condition  of  the  individual,  for 
from  such  desire  springs  material  and  intellectual  advance- 
ment. We  take  also,  but  under  control  of  the  state,  its 
system  of  rewards  and  punishments  attending  the  suc- 
cess or  failure  of  personal  effort.  From  monarchism  we 
take  the  prompt  and  strict  enforcement  of  law,  the  effect- 
ive ownership  of  public  utilities.  This  composite  —  this 
blending  of  the  best  from  all  theories  of  government  is 
Americanism,  and  when  the  people  awake  to  the  full 
threat  of  the  danger  that  confronts  them,  to  the  full 
force  of  the  strength  that  lies  within  them,  we  shall  see 
them  triumphant  through  Americanism. 


7pX 


AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


SOCIAL  IDEALISM 

SHAILER  MATHEWS 
Dean  of  the  Divinity  School,  University  of  Chicago 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
New  York,  July  29,  1909.) 

Jesus  taught  a  social  idealism  based  upon  the  absolute 
kingdom  of  God,  and  one  to  be  realized  by  God-like, 
loving  men.  This  is  the  social  teaching  of  Jesus,  and 
already  there  are  men  and  women  who  are  endeavoring 
to  incorporate  into  their  lives  the  principles  of  that  abso- 
lute social  order. 

Do  things  even  to  the  loss  of  your  rights  rather  than 
prostitute  your  loving  nature.  There  are  some  who  say- 
that  this  principle  of  love  is  to  be  erected  into  a  social 
system,  but  Jesus  is  not  talking  about  a  social  system, 
but  about  individuals.  It  is  supreme  idealism,  abso- 
lutely without  modification,  if  men  are  going  to  be  sons 
of  God.  And  that  is  the  great  question  which  Jesus 
raises.  Does  Jesus  believe  that  all  men  are  going  to 
become  sons  of  God,  in  the  sense  that  he  means?  The 
only  answer  which  he  gives  is  that  they  must  become 
loving  if  they  would  be  his  sons.  The  recognition  of  the 
principle  of  love,  of  forgiveness,  of  reconciliation,  is  the 
one  thing  that  Jesus  wants  to  bring  into  society.  In  his 
own  case  he  makes  no  compromise.  His  life  is  the  abso- 
lute expression  of  love.  That  does  not  mean  that  we 
are  to  do  the  things  that  he  did.  But  we  must  have  the 
same  quality  of  life,  the  same  willingness  to  take  up  the 
cross  even  to  Calvary  rather  than  give  up  this  conviction 


SHAILER  MATHEWS  71 

which  is  the  greatest  in  the  world.  If  you  can  get  that 
principle  to  work  in  your  life  it  is  easy  to  see  what  will 
be  the  result.  Jesus  has  no  social  teaching  for  anyone 
save  those  who  will  come  under  the  Golden  Rule.  The 
first  thing  is  for  the  sick  man  to  be  cured  before  he  can 
do  a  well  man's  work.  You  cannot  make  a  regenerate 
society  out  of  unregenerate  people.  You  cannot  put 
this  ideal  in  a  society  that  prefers  force  to  love,  and 
mammon  to  God. 


THE  NEW  PATRIOTISM 

RAY  STANNARD  BAKER 
Of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  "American  Magazine" 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College,  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  October  31,  1909.) 

In  the  spring  of  1894  I  went  as  a  newspaper  corre- 
spondent to  march  with  Coxey's  famous  army  of  the 
unemployed,  of  which  you  may  have  heard.  It  was  a 
tatterdemalion  crowd  of  some  four  hundred  men  which 
started  from  Ohio  and  marched  through  the  country  to 
Washington  to  demand  work  of  the  Government.  They 
were  a  ragged,  miserable  lot;  and  yet  after  two  months 
with  them,  seeing  them  at  night  around  their  camp-fires 
or  side  by  side  with  them  during  their  long,  straggling, 
tiresome  marches,  I  came  to  know  many  of  them  well. 
I  learned  the  stories  of  their  lives.  I  felt  the  difficulties 
they  had  to  meet.  And  the  more  I  saw,  the  more  my 
feeling  of  anger  and  sorrow  grew  that  such  things  could 


72  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

be  in  a  great,  rich,  powerful,  prosperous  nation  like 
ours  —  a  nation  with  the  richest  men  in  the  world  in 
it,  with  the  most  productive  farms  and  mines,  with 
plenty  for  all  —  if  only  all  could  share  in  it.  There 
was  something  wrong  when  some  men  could  live  in  pal- 
aces and  eat  at  each  meal  food  which  costs  several  days 
of  hard  toil  for  some  working  man,  while  others  starved 
and  went  ragged.  Something  was  wrong  —  wrong.  A 
nation  that  glittered  as  ours  did  outwardly,  and  per- 
mitted such  suffering  and  want  and  sorrow  to  exist  under- 
neath, was  not  right  within  itself. 

These  were  troublous  times,  you  say,  times  of  panic, 
hard  times,  and  failures.  They  were,  indeed,  but  I  could 
take  you  to-night  to  places  in  New  York  city,  where 
you  would  find  ragged  men  and  women  shivering  in 
the  cold,  and  hungry  for  food.  In  hundreds  of  homes 
in  New  York  city  to-day,  in  a  time  of  rampant  pros- 
perity, the  children  have  not  had  enough  to  eat,  and 
they  will  go  shivering  to-morrow  morning  because  they 
haven't  enough  good  clothes  to  keep  them  warm.  These 
are  plain,  hard,  every-day  facts. 

At  first  when  I  saw  these  conditions  I  couldn't  explain 
them.  I  knew  that  they  were  wrong  —  but  what  was 
to  be  done  about  them?  Then  I  began  to  get  a  true 
glimpse  of  our  civilization.  I  saw  how  men  and  women 
were  fighting  one  another  for  bread  and  clothing  and 
fuel  —  fighting  like  beasts  in  the  jungle  —  and  how  a 
few  strong  men  who  had  superior  ability  in  the  direction 
of  making  money,  or  piling  up  money,  or  who  had  never 
done  a  stroke  of  work  for  it  at  all,  but  had  inherited  it, 
had  seized  upon  much  of  the  most  valuable  land  of  the 
country,  had  got  possession  of  the  water-powers,   the 


RAY  STANNARD  BAKER  73 

machinery,  the  railroads,  and  the  coal  mines,  and  were 
making  other  people  work  for  them,  and  taking  a  great 
deal  more  than  their  share  of  the  products  of  that  work. 
And,  of  course,  in  such  a  jungle  fight,  the  strong  got 
most  of  the  food  and  clothing  —  far  more  than  they 
needed  —  and  many  little  children,  many  women,  many 
weak  men,  because  they  couldn't  fight  as  hard  as  the 
others,  had  to  go  hungry  and  cold. 

I  wondered  if  this  jungle  fight  was  the  only  way  of 
life  in  a  great  and  civilized  nation  like  ours.  And  it 
was  then  that  I  began  to  see  clearly  the  true  meaning 
of  that  greater  law  which  I  had  heard  about  ever  since 
I  was  a  small  boy,  but  which  I  never  had  understood. 
I  am  not  much  of  a  churchman  to-day,  but  let  me  say 
with  all  the  force  I  have  in  me  that  I  believe  the  solution 
of  the  problem  is  where  I  then  found  it,  in  the  words  of 
the  Great  Teacher,  "He  that  is  greatest  among  you, 
let  him  be  as  he  that  doth  serve."  In  other  words,  let 
the  strong  not  crush  the  weak,  but  serve  the  weak.  "Do 
unto  others  as  ye  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you." 
In  other  words,  let  the  fit  do  by  the  starving  and  ragged 
unfit  as  they  would  be  done  by.  "Let  the  strong  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak." 

Let  us  see,  then,  how  we  really  do  treat  our  weak 
ones.  Take,  for  example,  the  children  of  the  poor.  How 
do  we  treat  them?  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  children  in  this  country  who  are  being  used  up  and 
worn  out  before  they  have  attained  their  growth.  We 
are  so  anxious  to  make  money  out  of  our  cotton  cloth, 
our  coal,  our  glass  products,  and  so  on,  that  we  are  yearly 
ruining  thousands  of  helpless  children.  Take  another 
weak  element  of  our  population  —  the  foreigner.    How 


74  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

do  we  treat  him?  Briefly,  we  make  him  work  just  as 
hard  as  we  can  for  just  as  low  wages  as  possible,  because 
he  is  poor  and  ignorant  and  Weak.  We  who  are  strong 
take  from  him  to  the  limit  of  our  ability. 

So  we  might  go  on  asking  our  question,  "How  do  you 
treat  the  little  ones  and  the  weak  ones?  "  But  enough  has 
been  said,  perhaps,  to  make  the  point  I  wish  to  make 
strongly  here,  that  while  we  are  a  great,  rich,  prosperous 
nation,  we  are  not  meeting  as  we  should  the  true  test 
of  greatness. 


FROM  THE  TOP  OF  THE  WASHINGTON 
MONUMENT 

HENRY  B.   F.   MACFARLAND 
President  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

(The  concluding  part  of  an  address  delivered  on  "District  of 
Columbia  Day,"  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition,  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  October  19,  1904.) 

The  calm  height  of  the  Washington  Monument  is  a 
good  place  from  which  to  see  things  in  proper  proportion 
as  with  the  serene  eye  of  history.  It  is  a  place  for  opti- 
mism, not  for  pessimism.  As  we  look  westward  up  the 
picturesque  Potomac,  curving  under  the  setting  sun- 
beams, we  remember  that  George  Washington  looked 
with  the  eye  of  faith  from  those  heights  to  that  promised 
land  beyond  the  horizon,  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  which 
he  wanted  the  United  States  to  occupy,  and  we  remember 
how,  slowly  but  surely,  in  spite  of  all  difficulties,  the 


HENRY  B.  F.  MACFARLAND  75 

thought  of  that  first  great  American  expansionist  has 
been  carried  out  until  American  principles,  represented 
by  the  American  flag,  have  been  planted  in  the  islands  of 
the  sea,  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  far  beyond 
his  farthest  dream.  Looking  southward,  toward  his 
home  and  tomb  at  Mount  Vernon,  we  recall  how  his 
ideals  of  republican  freedom,  his  example  as  a  Revolu- 
tionary patriot,  brought  a  score  of  republics  into  being 
out  of  the  monarchical  possessions  south  of  us,  and  how 
his  teachings  made  the  United  States  the  protector  and 
the  friend  of  every  one  of  them  without  making  the  United 
States  the  enemy  of  any  other  country.  As  we  turn  to 
the  eastern  windows,  looking  out  beyond  the  hills  of 
Maryland  toward  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  we  see  the  living 
influence  of  Washington  in  the  republic  of  France,  in 
the  freedom  which  has  spread  through  all  western  Europe, 
in  the  democracy  and  liberty  of  the  British  Isles.  At 
The  Hague  we  see  enthroned  by  the  public  opinion  of 
civilized  nations  his  teaching  of  international  justice  as 
the  means  of  keeping  the  peace  of  the  world  —  that  doc- 
trine which,  by  Washington's  direction,  John  Jay  embodied 
in  the  famous  treaty  with  England,  then  denounced,  now 
admired,  the  first  treaty  in  which  that  principle  was 
found.  Far  to  the  northward  we  see  our  sister  state  of 
Canada,  self-governing,  American  in  all  but  form  and 
name,  revering  Washington  and  living  out  his  deepest 
teachings. 

We  can  trace  from  this  high  point  the  way  in  which 
our  own  nation  has  been  led,  through  the  wrongs  and  the 
dangers  that  we  have  passed,  even  through  the  awful 
sufferings  and  sacrifices  of  the  Civil  War,  into  larger  oppor- 
tunities, greater  responsibilities,  and  a  more  splendid 


76  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

renown.  It  is  a  cure  for  discouragement  to  reflect  at  the 
top  of  the  Washington  Monument  upon  the  progress  of 
the  nation  of  Washington  under  the  inspiration  of  his 
principles  and  his  career. 

Even  though  clouds  cover  the  zenith,  even  though  rain 
falls  from  their  darkness,  the  sun  shining  over  Arlington 
Heights,  where  we  can  see  the  graves  of  men  who  died 
that  the  republic  might  live,  arches  the  Capitol  with  a 
splendid  rainbow,  the  perpetual  reminder  of  the  promises 
of  God.  Taking  the  larger  view  of  our  country  and  its 
relation  to  the  world,  facing  the  new  occasions  and  their 
new  duties,  appreciating  that  we  have  been  brought  into 
unique  leadership  among  the  nations  and  with  alien 
peoples,  adding  to  our  unsettled  questions  at  home  even 
greater  questions  abroad,  we  see  clouds  of  darkness  over 
us,  and  even  the  rain  falling  upon  us;  but  we  also  see  shin- 
ing through  the  rain  the  rays  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
turning  the  drops  into  the  rainbow  of  the  covenant  of 
God,  that  those  who  obey  shall  be  sustained,  and  we 
remember  all  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most 
High.  It  is  in  this  that  our  hope  lies,  as  all  our  wisest 
men  confess.  Not  by  our  might,  not  by  our  wisdom  — 
no,  "but  my  Spirit,"  saith  the  God  of  our  fathers.  With- 
out Him  our  efforts  are  but  losing.  With  Him  we  may 
be  sure  of  success. 


JOHN  SHARP  WILLIAMS  77 


THE  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER 

JOHN  SHARP  WILLIAMS 
United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  Company  "A,"  Confederate 
Veterans,  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  May  31,  1904.) 

The  world  has  witnessed  some  great  battle  charges 
in  its  day.  Our  white  race  has  made  them;  the  charge 
of  the  French  cavalry  at  Austerlitz,  of  Napoleon's  Old 
Guard  at  Waterloo;  the  perhaps  equally  great  counter- 
charge of  the  English  Horse  Guards  at  the  same  place; 
the  charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  at  Balaklava,  immortal 
in  itself  and  rendered  metrically  immortal  in  the  minds 
of  men  by  Tennyson's  stirring  lines;  the  unavailing 
charge  of  the  English  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans; 
the  charge  of  the  Mamelukes  —  white  slaves,  as  they 
were  —  upon  Napoleon's  squares  in  the  shadow  of  the 
pyramids  —  all  these  recur  to  the  mind.  But  where,  in 
all  the  history  of  all  the  charges,  do  you  find  exploits 
comparable  to  those  beginning  at  Savage  Station  and 
continuing  on  through  the  seven  days  and  ending  at 
Malvern  Hill;  to  that  of  the  Texans,  when  they  told 
Lee  to  go  to  the  rear,  in  the  wilderness;  to  that  suicidal, 
murderous,  and  unavailing  onslaught  of  the  Confederate 
infantry  upon  the  breastworks  of  Franklin;  and  above 
all,  to  that  of  Pickett  and  his  men  at  Gettysburg  ?  I  can 
see  them  now:  the  reluctantly  obedient  and  sullen  corps 
commander  sitting  upon  the  fence;  Pickett  saluting  and 
asking,  "General,  shall  I  carry  my  men  in?"  Long- 
street's  bowing  without  a  word.    I  can  hear  the  Vir- 


78  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

ginian  giving  his  orders,  see  him  in  his  place  with  head 
bowed,  see  the  sweep  of  the  line  without  a  break,  as  it 
goes  across  and  up  the  long  slope,  the  orders  almost 
noiselessly  passed  to  close  up,  as  the  artillery,  and  later 
the  musketry,  tear  the  ranks  to  pieces;  I  can  see  the 
long  slope  from  one  end  of  that  gray  line  to  the  other, 
marked  in  the  course  of  its  march  by  the  dead  and  dying; 
I  can  see  the  few  who  attained  the  height  vaulting,  sword 
in  hand,  or  with  clubbed  musket,  into  the  enemy's  en- 
trenchment; I  can  see  them  looking  about  to  find  them- 
selves surrounded  by  blue-coated  soldiers,  more  than 
enough  without  arms  to  have  tied  them  with  pocket 
handkerchiefs;  I  can  see  those  few  —  oh,  so  few  —  look- 
ing back  over  that  long,  long  slope  to  find  not  one  gray 
coat  in  sight  for  a  support  —  Lee's  orders  not  carried 
out;  I  see  them  then,  despair  of  desperation  settling 
upon  them,  some  surrendering  and  some  beginning  to 
break  back  to  the  Confederate  line.  I  can  hear  later 
the  anguished  and  agonizing  reproach  of  Pickett,  when 
he  states  to  General  Lee  that  his  magnificent  division 
has  been  swept  out  of  existence,  and  I  can  hear  Lee, 
with  a  greatness  of  soul,  a  magnanimity  of  which  he 
alone  was  capable,  saying,  "Never  mind,  General,  it 
has  all  been  my  fault,"  and  to  the  men,  "  You  must  help 
me  get  out  of  this  as  best  we  can."  In  comparison  with 
this  demonstration  of  the  courage  of  the  soldier  and  the 
magnanimity  of  the  leader,  what  could  you  quote  from 
all  history?  But,  my  friends,  if  the  critics  were  right 
about  the  elan  of  the  Southerner  on  the  charge,  they 
were  wrong  about  his  capacity  for  standing  punishment 
on  the  defense.  Witness  Jackson  and  his  Virginians  at 
First  Manassas;  witness  Stonewall  Jackson  again  with 


JOHN  SHARP  WILLIAMS  79 

his  division  nearly  a  whole  day  waiting  for  Longstreet 
at  Second  Manassas;  witness  Southern  resistance  at  the 
"bloody  angle/'  and  upon  the  reformed  lines  of  entrench- 
ment back  of  it  at  Spottsylvania;  witness  Second  Cold 
Harbor,  where  the  Federal  private  soldier,  of  his  own 
accord,  refused  to  obey  orders  to  charge  again  against 
the  impregnable  resistance  of  the  Southerners.  The 
dogged,  patient,  steadfast  courage  of  Wellington  and  the 
British  soldiers  at  Torres  Vedras,  great  as  it  was,  pales 
ineffectually  in  the  light  of  the  suffering,  patience,  stead- 
fastness to  the  end,  displayed  by  the  soldiers  of  the 
Confederacy  at  Vicksburg  and  at  Petersburg.  What  sol- 
diers they  were!  And  bear  in  mind,  my  friends,  that 
"soldiering"  was  not  their  business.  They  fought  neither 
for  love  of  it,  nor  for  pride  in  a  soldier's  profession,  nor 
from  the  mere  habit  of  soldierly  obedience,  nor  for  pay 
in  money  which  was  worthless,  nor  for  "provant,"  which 
was  little.  Soldiering,  I  say,  was  not  his  business.  He 
was  a  mechanic,  a  lawyer,  a  doctor,  a  farmer,  sometimes 
even  a  preacher,  as  brave  General  Leonidas  Polk  and 
General  Gregg,  both  bishops,  were.  But  when  called 
upon  to  become,  for  the  time  being,  for  his  country's 
sake,  a  soldier,  he  became  such  a  soldier  that  the  world 
has  never  seen  his  like. 


8o  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  UNION  SOLDIER 

JOHN  M.   THURSTON 
Former  United  States  Senator  from  Nebraska 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  Michigan 
Club,  Detroit,  Michigan,  February  21,  1890.  This  extract,  though 
in  part  different  from  the  one  usually  given,  is  already  familiar  as 
a  declamation  for  students,  but  it  is  included  here  as  a  companion 
selection  to  the  preceding.) 

Sometimes,  in  passing  along  the  street,  I  meet  a  man 
who,  in  the  left  lapel  of  his  coat,  wears  a  little,  plain, 
modest,  unassuming  brass  button.  The  coat  is  often 
old  and  rusty,  the  face  above  it  seamed  and  furrowed 
by  the  toil  and  suffering  of  adverse  years,  perhaps  beside 
it  hangs  an  empty  sleeve,  and  below  it  stumps  a  wooden 
peg.  But  when  I  meet  the  man  who  wears  that  button, 
I  doff  my  hat  and  stand  uncovered  in  his  presence  — 
yea!  to  me  the  very  dust  his  weary  foot  has  pressed  is 
holy  ground,  for  I  know  that  man,  in  the  dark  hour  of 
the  nation's  peril,  bared  his  breast  to  the  hell  of  battle 
to  keep  the  flag  of  our  country  in  the  Union  sky. 

Maybe  at  Donaldson  he  reached  the  inner  trench;  at 
Shiloh  held  the  broken  line;  at  Chattanooga  climbed 
the  flame-swept  hill,  or  stormed  the  clouds  on  Lookout 
Heights.  He  was  not  born  or  bred  to  soldier  life.  His 
country's  summons  called  him  from  the  plow,  the  forge, 
the  bench,  the  loom,  the  mine,  the  store,  the  office,  the 
college,  the  sanctuary.  He  did  not  fight  for  greed  of 
gold,  to  find  adventure,  or  to  win  renown.  He  loved 
the  peace  of  quiet  ways,  and  yet  he  broke  the  clasp  of 


JOHN  M.  THURSTON  81 

clinging  arms,  turned  from  the  witching  glances  of  tender 
eyes,  left  good-bye  kisses  upon  tiny  lips,  to  look  death 
in  the  face  on  desperate  fields. 

And  when  the  war  was  over  he  quietly  took  up  the 
broken  threads  of  love  and  life  as  best  he  could,  a  better 
citizen  for  having  been  so  good  a  soldier. 

The  men  who  wear  the  button  are  dropping  away 
one  by  one,  and  in  a  few  more  years  they  will  all  have 
answered  to  Heaven's  reveille,  but  their  sons  remain. 
Their  sons  remain,  not  only  to  enjoy  the  heritage  of 
good  government,  prosperity,  and  peace,  but  to  follow 
the  precedents  their  fathers  set. 

I  remember  one.  In  November,  1864,  the  Union  pris- 
oners in  Andersonville  held  an  election  in  all  due  form 
of  law.  News  had  reached  them  from  beyond  the  lines 
that  the  Republican  party  had  renominated  Abraham 
Lincoln  upon  a  platform  which  declared  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war  to  the  bitter  end.  They  had  heard  that 
the  Democrats  had  nominated  George  B.  McClellan  on 
a  platform  which  declared  the  war  a  failure,  and  called 
for  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  They  knew  that  McClel- 
lan's  election  would  result  in  a  speedy  exchange  of  pris- 
oners, and  a  return  to  home.  How  much  that  meant 
to  a  man  penned  up  there,  God  only  knows.  To  walk 
once  more  the  shady  lane;  to  see  the  expectant  faces  of 
love  in  the  open  door;  to  hold  against  his  breast  the  one 
woman  whose  momentary  embrace  seemed  more  to  him 
than  hope  of  heaven  does  to  you  and  me;  to  raise  in 
yearning  arms  the  sturdy  boy  who  was  a  baby  when  his 
father  marched  away:  it  meant  this  —  and  it  meant 
more.  It  meant  life,  and  hope,  and  home,  and  love, 
and  peace  —  for  him;  but  for  the  flag,  dishonor,  and  for 


82  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  Union,  dissolution.  The  reelection  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln meant  the  indefinite  continuance  of  the  war,  pro- 
longed captivity,  suffering,  and  death  amid  the  horrors 
of  Andersonville.  They  knew  the  issue,  and  they  sol- 
emnly prepared  to  meet  it  on  that  election  morning.  A 
mock  election,  say  you?  Yes,  a  mock  election.  Its 
result  would  never  be  returned  to  swell  the  grand  total 
of  loyal  votes  in  Liberty's  land,  but  in  the  golden  book 
of  life,  that  mock  election  is  recorded  in  letters  of  eternal 
splendor.  They  took  for  their  ballot-box  an  old  tin 
coffee-pot;  their  ballots  were  army  beans.  A  black  bean 
was  for  Lincoln,  the  Republican  party,  the  flag,  and  the 
Union,  but  the  man  who  cast  it  could  never  expect  to 
see  home,  wife,  or  babies  any  more.  A  white  bean  was 
for  McClellan,  the  Democratic  party,  the  Union  sacri- 
ficed, its  flag  in  the  dust,  but  it  also  was  a  promise  to 
those  despairing  men  of  all  most  dear  to  human  hearts. 
Some  walked  to  the  polls,  some  crawled  there,  and  some 
were  borne  in  the  tender  arms  of  loving  comrades,  and 
with  the  last  expiring  breath  of  life  dropped  in  the  bean 
that  registered  a  freeman's  will.  And  when  the  sun  had 
set  and  the  glory  of  evening  filled  the  sky,  eager  hands 
tore  off  the  lid  and  streaming  eyes,  looking  therein,  saw 
that  the  inside  of  the  old  coffee-pot  was  as  black  as  the 
face  of  the  blackest  contraband  with  votes  for  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

God  bless  the  men  who  wore  the  button !  They  pinned 
with  bayonets  the  stars  of  Union  in  the  azure  of  our 
flag,  and  in  blood  made  atonement  for  a  nation's  sin. 
They  supplemented  "Yankee  Doodle"  with  "Glory, 
Hallelujah,"  and  Yorktown  with  Appomattox.  Their 
powder  woke  the  morn  of  universal  freedom  and  made 


BEN  B.  LINDSEY  83 

the  name  "American"  first  in  all  the  earth.  To  us 
their  memory  is  an  inspiration  and  to  the  future  it  is 
hope. 


THE  BOY  AND  THE  JUVENILE  COURT 

BEN  B.   LINDSEY 
Judge  of  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Denver,  Colorado 

(Condensed  from  the  concluding  part  of  an  address  before  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  at  Atlanta,  Geor- 
gia, May,  1903.) 

Boys  have  feelings.  They  like  to  have  friends.  There 
isn't  much  use  to  try  to  arouse  pride  unless  there  be 
someone  whom  they  want  to  please  and,  in  pleasing,  will 
in  turn  be  pleased.  If  they  have  no  friends,  the  first  thing 
to  do  is  to  supply  the  friend,  and  the  pride,  in  most  cases, 
will  come  out.  If  they  have  the  wrong  kind  of  friends, 
it  is  a  good  thing  to  quietly  supply  the  right  kind. 

Take  the  case  of  Micky.  Before  Micky  got  in  the 
juvenile  court  one  of  the  Denver  papers  had  published 
his  picture  with  a  graphic  account  under  the  double- 
leaded  head-line,  "The  Worst  Kid  in  Town."  Micky 
had  feelings.  He  made  the  paper  so  much  trouble  that 
they  finally  gave  him  a  job.  One  unlucky  day,  however, 
as  he  himself  explains  it,  he  got  "canned."  After  he 
was  placed  on  probation,  he  was  arrested  on  a  false  sus- 
picion, as  he  stated  to  me,  "simply  because  the  bull  had 
to  pinch  somebody  and  he  pinched  me  because  he  had 
been  reading  the  Post"  (the  offending  newspaper).    The 


84  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

result  was  a  second  article  entitled,  "The  Misfortunes  of 
Micky,"  in  which  it  was  announced  that  he  had  been 
sent  to  the  Reform  School.  Micky  was  simply  the  victim 
of  a  newspaper  exaggeration,  as  other  distinguished 
people  have  been  before.  He  came  to  me  in  a  great 
state  of  perturbation  the  next  day,  with  the  offending 
paper  in  his  hand.  He  said,  "Judge,  just  look  at  dat." 
I  read  rather  surprisedly  that  I  had  committed  Micky 
to  the  Industrial  School.  "Well,"  I  said,  "Charlie,  this 
is  very  distressing."  "Yes,"  he  said,  "I  knowed  it  was 
a  lie  when  I  seed  it,  but,"  he  said,  the  tears  welling  in 
his  eyes,  "dat  ain't  de  worst  of  it.  Deys  done  gone  and 
put  it  on  the  sporting  page,  and  all  my  friends  will  see 
it."  Now,  Micky's  friends  were  among  the  sporting 
fraternity.  If  there  was  a  prize-fight  on,  before  Micky 
got  in  the  juvenile  court  —  and  the  police  would  have 
you  believe,  even  after  —  Micky  was  there  if  he  had  to 
go  in  through  the  roof.  He  is  now  a  special  probation 
officer  in  the  juvenile  court  and  very  proud  of  his  job. 
He  can  "keep  tab"  on  more  bad  kids  than  the  entire 
police  force.  He  says  himself  that  he  has  "done  reformed 
long  ago,"  and  I  am  inclined  to  credit  his  statement. 

The  best  way  to  reform  a  boy  waywardly  disposed  is 
first  to  understand  him.  You  have  got  to  get  inside  of 
him  and  see  things  through  his  eyes,  understand  his 
motives,  have  sympathy  and  patience  with  his  faults, 
just  as  far  as  you  can,  remembering  that  more  can  be 
accomplished  through  love  than  by  any  other  method. 

One  trouble  is  that  we  do  not  think.  Victor  Hugo  did 
not  suffer  from  this  short-coming  to  which  we  are  all 
more  or  less  victims.  Nearly  one  hundred  years  ago  a 
Paris  newspaper  contained  an  item  (as  far  as  the  prin- 


BEN  B.  LINDSEY  85 

ciple  is  involved)  seen  in  our  city  newspapers  almost  any 
day:  A  boy  had  been  arrested,  tried,  and  incarcerated 
for  stealing  a  loaf  of  bread.  How  many  thousands  of 
readers  glanced  over  that  item  without  another  thought. 
Yet  it  was  the  suggestion,  to  one  who  did  think,  for  a 
story  of  life  that  thrilled  the  heart  of  the  world.  It  is 
all  right  to  sympathize  with  Jean  Valjean.  And  yet  no 
code  of  ethics  or  morals  will  justify,  or  ought  to  justify, 
what  he  did.  The  trouble  in  Jean  Valjean's  case  was 
that  justice  was  not  done.  There  should  have  been 
justice  to  the  boy  who  stole.  There  should  have  been 
justice  to  the  man  who,  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  by 
his  own  labor,  had  produced  that  loaf  of  bread.  Sup- 
pose he  had  forty  loaves  as  the  result  of  a  day's  work, 
and  forty  Jean  Val jeans  had  appeared  upon  the  scene. 
He  may  have  had  hungry  children  of  his  own  to  feed. 
The  judge  was  no  better  or  worse  than  the  people  or 
the  system  under  which  he  lived  and  acted.  The  rights 
and  duties  of  each  were  not  adjusted  to  each  other. 
There  was  neither  harmony  nor  justice.  Jean  Valjean 
should  have  been  corrected,  but  corrected  with  the  love 
and  tenderness  of  our  Saviour  as  He  would  have  cor- 
rected him.  Would  He  have  told  Jean  it  was  right  to 
steal  that  bread?  No.  The  Master  would  have  said, 
"Thou  shalt  not  steal."  He  would  have  forgiven  him. 
He  would  have  assisted  him,  so  that  he  could  accomplish 
lawfully  what  he  had  done  unlawfully.  That  is  what  the 
juvenile  court  would  do. 


86  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


NEIGHBORS  NEEDED 

JACOB  RIIS 
Executive  officer  of  Ike  Good  Government  Clubs  of  New  York  City 

(The  concluding  part  of  an  address  published  in  The  Sunday 
School  Times  of  October  2,  1909.) 

"God,"  says  an  old  proverb,  " employs  no  hired  men. 
His  work  is  done  by  his  sons."     That  is,  in  the  family. 

Some  years  ago  we  established  children's  courts,  with 
probation  officers,  in  our  cities  to  deal  sensibly  and  justly 
with  the  young,  whom  heretofore  we  had  herded  with 
criminals  to  their  injury  and  our  loss.  That  was  good. 
But  the  trouble  with  the  children  who  go  astray  is  that 
the  home,  the  family,  have  lost  their  grip  upon  them 
in  the  contact  with  the  street  and  the  gutter  that  are 
far  too  much  in  evidence  in  our  cities.  Some  young  men 
in  one  of  the  churches  of  New  York,  who  believed  that 
all  God's  children  are  of  one  family,  undertook  to  restore 
this  lost  grip.  They  saw  that  the  probation  officer  had 
his  hands  too  full,  and  formed  the  Big  Brothers'  Band. 
Each  of  them  agreed  to  be  a  big  brother  to  some  child 
gone  astray.  He  became  his  friend,  took  him  home, 
took  him  to  the  ball  game,  made  him  welcome,  let  him 
understand  he  was  there  to  help  him. 

They  had  no  plan  to  speak  of.  They  made  love  work 
it  out  as  they  went  along.  They  got  acquainted  with 
his  home  first  of  all,  with  his  father  and  mother.  They 
"gave  the  mother  back  her  boy."  If  he  ought  to  be  in 
school  and  was  not,  they  saw  to  that;  they  took  the  teacher 
into  their  counsel.    If  the  boy  was  old  enough,  they  got 


JACOB  RIIS  87 

him  a  job.  They  saw  to  it  that  there  was  a  gymnasium, 
a  club  where  he  could  spend  his  evenings  and  be  safe. 
The  hours  between  supper  and  bed  are  often  the  most 
pregnant  in  a  boy's  life.  If  you  know  where  he  is  then, 
you  have  a  good  grip  on  him.  If  the  boy  didn't  attend 
church  or  Sunday-school,  they  took  him  to  their  own. 
And  they  never  patronized  him,  for  that  would  have 
spoiled  it  all. 

Go  down  to  your  duty  toward  your  fellowman,  and 
you  will  never  reach  him,  never  get  there.  To  be  of 
any  use,  you  have  got  to  go  over  on  the  level,  as  from 
neighbor  to  neighbor,  and  on  that  road  you  will  soon 
find  yourself  going  up,  in  fact,  to  your  neglected  oppor- 
tunity, the  work  you  let  He  too  long.  In  the  family 
there  is  no  descending,  no  patronizing  —  cannot  be. 
Charity  doesn't  corrupt,  in  the  family,  because  it  is 
natural;  it  is  love,  which  is  the  true  meaning  of  charity. 
It  is  the  lesson  of  the  gospel  which  we  are  learning 
over  again  in  the  neighborly  touch  from  a  new  angle, — 
more  is  the  pity  that  we  ever  let  it  escape  us.  The  Big 
Brother  comes  with  the  message  of  a  friend  in  the  family, 
and  the  little  brother  takes  his  hand  gladly,  and  goes 
along  his  way. 

For  the  boy  would  rather  be  good  than  bad.  Some- 
thing outside  of  him  made  him  bad,  if  indeed  he  was 
bad  at  all.  But  the  first  result  of  the  brotherly  plan 
is  to  substitute  for  the  inquiry,  "Why  is  the  boy  bad?" 
the  much  more  sensible  one,  "  Is  the  boy  bad  ?  "  It  is  just 
leaving  out  a  word,  but  it  makes  all  the  difference.  The 
answer  is  a  flat  denial  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  Some- 
body else  was  bad,  somebody  who  took  the  lad's  child- 
hood away,  corrupted  it  with  the  workshop,  the  street, 


88  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  tenement,  took  from  him  his  sweet  and  wholesome 
ideals,  and  wondered  afterward  at  the  crop  of  manhood 
that  grew  in  the  trail  he  left. 

It  is  all  part  of  the  new  reading  of  a  very  old  religion 
that  tells  us  what  every  man  knows  in  his  heart,  that 
we  are  all  brothers  because  we  have  one  Father,  who 
sent  his  only  Son  to  be  our  brother  and  guide  to  his 
kingdom.  It  is  a  new  reading  only  because  we  forgot 
so  long,  and  now  we  are  learning  again.  And  that  is 
the  message  of  our  day  to  the  days  that  are  coming. 

"'I  showed  men  God,'  my  Lord  will  say, 
'As  I  traveled  along  the  King's  highway. 

I  eased  the  sister's  troubled  mind; 

I  helped  the  blighted  to  be  resigned; 

I  showed  the  sky  to  the  souls  grown  blind. 
And  what  did  you  ? '  my  Lord  will  say, 
When  we  meet  at  the  end  of  the  King's  highway." 

If  we  can  say  truly,  "I  tried  to  be  a  neighbor,"  all  will 
be  well  with  us. 


AMERICA'S  FUTURE  RULERS 

RUSSELL  H.   CONWELL 
Lyceum  Lecturer,  and  President  of  the  Baptist  Temple,  Philadelphia 

(Extract  from  his  lecture,  "The  Silver  Crown,"  as  delivered  at 
Chautauqua,  New  York,  July  31,  1909.) 

As  the  story  goes,  a  certain  silver  crown,  the  symbol 
of  kingship,  was  once  given  to  a  lowly  huntsman  of  North 
India  because,  according  to  a  decree  of   the  stars,  he 


RUSSELL  H.  CONWELL  89 

was  followed  by  the  animals,  served  by  the  sun,  obeyed 
by  the  waters,  and  loved  by  mankind. 

I  am  looking  out  into  this  audience  to  find  the  kings 
and  the  queens  who  will  rule  America.  No  nation  is 
ruled  by  so  few  people  as  the  United  States  of  America. 
There  is  no  place  where  a  boss  can  attain  such  power 
as  in  America.  Even  in  Philadelphia  we  appreciate  the 
boss.  We  are  learning  that  men  and  women  cannot  and 
will  not  give  the  time  to  politics  when  they  can  better 
give  it  to  something  else.  If  you  have  a  good  boss  who 
does  the  best  he  can,  let  him  keep  charge;  but  if  he  is 
dishonest,  then  turn  him  out  and  get  another.  To  the 
man  who  says  he  is  too  pious  to  be  active  in  politics, 
let  me  say,  If  you  were  half  as  smart  as  you  are  pious, 
you  would  be  in  the  ring.  That  is  where  we  need  good 
men. 

The  kings  and  queens  of  the  future  will  know  what 
to  feed  the  lower  orders  of  life,  and  I  may  add,  the  higher 
orders.  There  is  an  awful  need  of  better  cooks.  The 
universities  are  interested  in  the  origin  of  the  universe, 
but  they  had  better  spend  their  time  in  a  cooking  school. 
How  many  a  man  fails  in  business  because  his  wife  is  a 
poor  cook.  How  many  a  college  student  fails  in  his 
examinations  because  he  has  a  poor  boarding-house. 
How  divinity  itself  depends  upon  the  absence  of  dys- 
pepsia and  good  digestion.  In  these  days  our  American 
aristocratic  ladies  think  themselves  above  knowing  any- 
thing about  cooking.  They  think  their  whole  duty 
consists  in  sitting  amid  the  curtains,  but  they  are  not 
American  ladies,  for  any  fool  can  sit  amid  the  curtains, 
but  it  takes  a  gigantic  mind  to  understand  the  mysteries 
of  the  laboratory  of  the  kitchen. 


90  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

In  America  to-day  great  artists  are  needed.  We  have 
many  now,  but  our  houses,  our  schools,  and  our  barns 
should  be  covered  with  great  pictures,  and  we  need  the 
artists  to  paint  them.  Will  we  get  them  from  Paris,  or 
Rome?  Maybe  some  day  they  will  come  home  and  do 
as  great  things  as  if  they  had  stayed  at  home.  That  is 
not  true  now.  The  artistic  sense  is  to  be  developed  by 
observation  of  the  world  about  us. 

And,  too,  musicians  are  needed  greatly.  We  have  lots 
of  noise,  but  little  music.  I  recall  the  vocal  gymnastics 
of  a  certain  high-priced  church  choir,  and  if  I  had  stood 
in  the  pulpit  and  sworn  at  the  pulpit  I  would  not  have 
committed  as  great  a  sacrilege  as  the  exhibition  up  on 
that  shelf.  Music  is  such  a  combination  of  sounds  as 
will  move  a  man  to  higher  thoughts  and  nobler  deeds. 
The  great  test  of  music  is  the  listener. 

Again,  there  are  not  enough  orators  in  the  world,  not 
as  many  as  there  used  to  be.  Upon  my  first  visit  to 
Chautauqua  the  program  included  such  speakers  as  John 
B.  Gough,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
They  have  no  successors.  And  yet  the  newspaper  or 
the  printed  page  can  never  take  the  place  of  the  personal 
magnetism  of  the  public  speaker.  Much  of  the  decline 
of  oratory  is  due  to  the  modern  schools  of  elocution 
which  have  taken  over  the  name  of  "schools  of  oratory." 
The  two  things,  oratory  and  elocution,  are  not  the  same, 
though  elocutionary  training  may  be  of  value  in  the 
preparation  of  the  orator.  Elocution  is  the  art  of  expres- 
sion, and  every  teacher  has  his  own  art;  but  oratory  is 
the  great  universal  science  of  effective  speech.  If  you 
call  a  dog  and  he  comes,  that  is  oratory;  if  he  runs  away, 
that  is  elocution. 


ANDREW  S.  DRAPER  91 


PROGRESSIVE  AMERICA 

ANDREW  S.  DRAPER 
Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  State  of  New  York 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly,  New 
York,  July  4,  1909.) 

All  Americans  are  optimists.  There  may  be  a  few 
stopping  with  us  who  are  not,  but  they  are  not  Ameri- 
cans. The  expectations  of  the  nation  are  boundless. 
We  will  fix  no  upper  limits.  These  expectations  are 
not  gross:  they  are  genuine  and  sincere,  moral  and  high- 
minded.  They  are  the  issue  of  a  mighty  world  move- 
ment; the  splendid  product  of  the  best  thinking  and  the 
hardest  struggling  for  a  thousand  years. 

Our  critics  say  that  we  are  boastful.  We  will  not  put 
them  to  the  trouble  of  proving  it;  we  admit  it.  It  is 
a  matter  of  definition,  of  terminology.  We  have  self- 
confidence  born  of  knowledge  and  of  accomplishment. 
We  know  something  of  the  doctrine  of  constants.  There 
is  logic  which  is  as  sure  as  the  sun.  The  nation  believes 
in  the  stars  which  are  in  the  heavens,  and  it  also  believes 
in  the  stars  which  are  upon  the  gag-  It  knows  its  his- 
tory, it  understands  its  ca&s4&«cnt  elements;  it  has 
definite  purposes;  it  expects  to  go  forward;  it  believes 
in  itself. 

None  will  deny  now  that  the  real  growth  of  the  nation 
must  be  in  soberness,  incoherence,  in  balance,  in  moder- 
ation, in  reserve  power,  in  administrative  effectiveness, 
in  moral  sense,  and  in  respect  for  law. 

We  have  no  fear  of  consequences.    We  rest  our  future 


92  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

upon  the  faith  that  the  .happiness  and  the  beneficent 
^influence  of  America  must  rest  upon  the  average  of 
enlightenment,  upon  the^measuxe  of  serious  and  poten- 
tial  work,  and  upon  the  attendant  level  of  moral  char- 
acter, attainable  by  alljthe  men  and  women  who  live 
under  our  flag. 

The  corner-stone  rjrinciple  of  our  political  theory  coin- 
cides absolutely  with  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  our 
moral  law.  All  men  and  women  are  to  be  intellectually 
quickened  and  made  industrially  potential  to  the  very 
limits  of  sane  and  balanced  character.  The  moral  sense 
of  the  people  is  determined  by  it,  and  the  nation's  great- 
ness is  measured  by  it.  Before  this  fact  the  prerogative 
of  a  monarch  or  the  comfort  of  a  class  is  of  no  account. 
Before  it  every  other  consideration  must  give  way.  It 
is  right  here  that  democracies  that  can  hold  together 
surpass  monarchies.     It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  pro- 


gressive will  of  an  intelligent  ipeogle  is  better  than  the 
hereditary  and  arbitrary  power  of  kings. 


THE  TORCH  OF  CIVILIZATION 

THOMAS  NELSON  PAGE 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Society  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  December  21,  1899.) 

In  the  history  of  civilization  first  one  nation  arises  and 
becomes  the  torch-bearer,  and  then  another  takes  the 
torch  as  it  becomes  stronger,  the  stronger  always  pushing 
the  weaker  aside  and  becoming  in  its  turn  the  leader. 


THOMAS  NELSON  PAGE  93 

Each  nation  that  has  borne  the  torch  of  civilization  has 
followed  some  path  peculiarly  its  own.  Egyptian, 
Syrian,  Persian,  Greek,  Roman,  Frank,  all  had  their 
ideal  of  power  —  order  and  progress  directed  under 
supreme  authority,  maintainedjiy  armed  organization. 
We  Anglo-Saxons  bear  the  torch  of  civilization  because 
we  possess  the  principles  of  civil  liberty,  and  we  have 
the  character,  or  should  have  the  character,  which  our 
fathers  have  transmitted  to  us,  with  which  to  uphold  it. 
If  we  have  not,  then  be  sure  that  with  the  certainty  of  a 
law  of  nature  some  nation  —  it  may  be  one  or  it  may  be 
another  —  already  knocking  at  our  doors,  will  push  us 
from  the  way,  and  take  the  torch  and  bear  it  onward, 
and  we  shall  go  down. 

But  I  have  no  fear  of  the  future.  I  believe .  the  great 
Anglo-Saxon  race  contains  elements  which  alone  can 
continue  to  be  the  leaders  of  civilization,  the  elements  of 
fundamental  power,  abiding  virtue,  public  and  private. 
Wealth  will  not  preserve  a  state;  it  must  be  the  aggrega- 
tion of  individual  integrity  in  its  members,  in  its  citizens, 
that  shall  preserve  it.  That  integrity,  I  believe,  exists, 
deep-rooted  among  our  people.  Sometimes  when  I  read 
accounts  of  vice  here  and  there  eating  into  the  heart  of 
the  people,  I  feel  inclined  to  be  pessimistic;  but  when  I 
come  face  to  face  with  the  American  and  see  him  in  his 
life,  as  he  truly  is;  when  I  reflect  on  the  great  body  of 
our  people  that  stretch  from  one  side  of  this  country  to 
the  other,  their  homes  perched  on  every  hill  and  nestled 
in  every  valley,  and  recognize  the  sterling  virtue  and  the 
kind  of  character  that  sustains  it,  built  on  the  rock  of 
those  principles  that  our  fathers  transmitted  to  us,  my 
pessimism  disappears  and  I  know  that  not  only  for  this 


94  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

immediate  time,  but  for  many  long  generations  to  come, 
with  that  reservoir  of  virtue  to  draw  from,  we  shall 
sustain  and  carry  both  ourselves  and  the  whole  human 
race  forward. 


FAITH  IN  MANKIND 

ARTHUR  T.  HADLEY 

President  of  Yale  University 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  baccalaureate  address  to  the  graduating 
class  of  Yale  University,  June  27,  1909.) 

In  order  to  accomplish  anything  great,  a  man  must 
have  two  sides  to  his  greatness:  a  personal  side  and  a 
social  side.  He  must  be  upright  himself,  and  he  must 
believe  in  the  good  intentions  and  possibilities  of  others 
about  him. 

The  scholars  and  scientific  men  of  the  country  have 
sometimes  been  reproached  with  a  certain  indifference 
to  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of  their  fellowmen.  It 
has  been  said  that  their  critical  faculty  is  developed 
more  strongly  than  their  constructive  instinct;  that  their 
brain  has  been  nourished  at  the  expense  of  their  heart; 
that  what  they  have  gained  in  breadth  of  vision  has 
been  outweighed  by  a  loss  of  human  sympathy. 

It  is  for  you  to  prove  the  falseness  of  this  charge.  It  is 
for  you  to  show  by  your  life  and  your  utterances  that 
you  believe  in  the  men  who  are  working  with  you  and 
about  you.  There  will  probably  be  times  when  this  is 
a  hard  task.    If  you  have  studied  history  or  literature 


ARTHUR  J.  HADLEY  9$ 

or  science  aright,  some  things  which  look  large  to  other 
people  will  look  small  to  you.  You  will  frequently  be 
called  upon  to  give  the  unwelcome  advice  that  a  desired 
end  cannot  be  reached  by  a  short  cut;  and  this  may 
cause  some  of  your  enthusiastic  friends  to  lose  confidence 
in  your  leadership.  There  are  always  times  when  a  man 
who  is  clear-headed  is  reproached  with  being  hard-hearted. 
But  if  you  yourselves  keep  your  faith  in  your  fellowmen, 
these  things,  though  they  be  momentary  hindrances,  will  in 
the  long  run  make  for  your  power  of  Christian  leadership. 

There  was  a  time,  not  so  very  long  ago,  when  the  people 
distrusted  the  guidance  of  scientific  men  in  things  material. 
They  believed  that  they  could  do  their  business  best 
without  the  advice  of  the  theorists.  When  it  came  to 
the  conduct  of  business  scientific  men  and  practical  men 
eyed  each  other  with  mutual  distrust.  As  long  as  the 
scientific  men  remained  mere  critics  this  distrust  remained. 
When  they  came  to  take  up  the  practical  problems  of 
applied  mechanics  and  physics  and  solve  them  positively  in 
a  large  way,  they  became  the  trusted  leaders  of  modern 
material  development. 

It  is  for  you  to  deal  with  the  profounder  problems  of 
human  life  in  the  same  way.  It  is  for  you  to  prove  your 
right  to  take  the  lead  in  the  political  and  social  and 
spiritual  development  of  the  country,  as  well  as  in  its 
mechanical  and  material  development.  To  do  this  you 
must  take  hold  of  these  social  problems  with  the  same 
positive  faith  with  which  your  fathers  took  hold  of  the 
problems  of  applied  science.  To  the  man  who  believes 
in  his  fellowmen,  who  has  faith  in  his  country,  and  in 
whom  the  love  of  the  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  is 
but  an  outgrowth  of  a  love  for  his  fellowmen  whom  he 


96  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

hath  seen,  the  opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century 
are  years  of  unrivaled  promise.  We  already  know  that 
a  man  can  learn  to  love  God  by  loving  his  fellowmen. 
Equally  true  we  shall  find  it  that  a  man  learns  to  believe 
in  God  by  believing  in  his  fellowmen. 


OUR  DUTY  TO  THE  ENGLISH  TONGUE 

JOHN  H.   FINLEY 

President  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York 

(Extract  from  an  address  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  January  30,  19 10.) 

I  am  going  to  speak  of  something  which  you  may 
think  to  be  neither  vital  nor  particularly  appropriate, 
but  which,  as  I  see  it,  has  in  it  elements  of  all  your  other 
obligations  to  the  city,  the  nation,  your  fellowmen,  of 
patriotism,  altruism,  and  religion.  I  shall  disappoint 
you  when  I  tell  you  that  I  am  thinking  of  your  duty  to 
the  English  tongue,  the  tongue  which  was  mother  to  the 
first  language  of  some  of  you  and  which  has  been  the 
patient  foster  mother  to  others. 

When  an  ancient  writer,  trying  to  express  the  revela- 
tion of  his  God  to  him,  said  that  it  was  "the  word  become 
flesh/ '  it  was  no  careless  figure  of  speech  that  he  used. 
You  have  lived  a  good  part  of  these  fifteen  years  in  the 
places  where  the  word,  the  spirit  of  others,  teachers, 
parents,  the  whole  past,  has  been  becoming  the  man  in 
you.  And  I  hope  this  will  not  cease  so  long  as  you  have 
flesh  in  which  the  spirit  can  reveal  itself. 


JOHN  H.  FINLEY  97 

If  this  be  true,  how  important  becomes  the  word  — 
that  expression  of  yourselves  in  which  your  flesh  becomes 
spirit  and  wanders  free  of  you  to  work  good  or  ill  in  the 
earth  among  men.  And  by  its  importance  am  I  justified 
in  asking  your  special  pledge  of  devotion,  as  I  speak 
for  the  last  time  to  you  as  a  class  before  you  go  up  for 
your  degrees,  your  devotion  to  the  beauty,  the  purity, 
the  integrity,  the  vitality  of  the  tongue  in  which  all 
your  knowledges  are  latent,  without  which  thought  itself 
is  impotent  —  to  the  protection  of  this  tongue  from  the 
sloven,  the  ignorant,  the  vicious;  to  its  ennobling  among 
the  arts. 

Ijwould  have  you  go  out  lovers  of  your  speech.  This 
is  a  time  of  philanthropists,  but  we  do  not  need  their 
riches  to  add  to  our  common  vocabulary.  It  is  richer 
than  that  of  many,  of  most,  tongues,  though  we  are  most 
of  us  seemingly  content  with  a  very  meager  possession. 
But  we  do  need  philologists,  in  the  original  meaning  of 
that  word,  men  in  every  walk  of  life  who  will  use  speech 
conscientiously,  discriminatingly,  intelligently,  yet  with- 
out pedantry  or  show. 

The  papers  tell  of  the  mayor's  praise  of  college  men 
in  cleaning  the  streets,  and  all  college  men  should  be 
proud  of  that  service  given  by  one  of  their  number.  I 
hope  that  graduates  of  this  college  will  come  to  serve  the 
city  in  its  every  department.  That  is  our  peculiar  oppor- 
tunity and  obligation  as  I  see  it;  but  incidentally  you 
can  constitute  yourselves  a  speech-cleaning  department, 
and  begin  by  keeping  clean  and  improving  the  speech 
before  your  own  doors  in  the  midst  of  the  babel  of  voices 
about  you. 

To  have  free  speech!    That  has  come  after  long  years 


98  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

of  struggle.  What  we  want  now  is  clear  speech,  speech 
restrained  to  truth,  speech  expanded  to  truth.  Democ- 
racy needs  philologists  who  can  teach  her  children,  who 
can  write  her  laws  for  her,  who  can  compose  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  which  needs  not  to  be  inter- 
preted, who  can  discover  to  others  in  plain,  unambiguous 
English  the  good  from  the  evil  which  they  themselves 
have  discerned.  And  here,  as  in  no  other  place,  is  such 
speech  needed,  for  here  is  peculiarly  the  place  of  the 
decision  of  things,  and  they  have  ultimately  to  be  decided 
in  the  flesh  that  has  become  word. 


THE  PROTECTION  OF  AMERICAN  CITIZENS 

WILLIAM  P.   FRYE 

United  States  Senator  from  Maine 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  Michigan 
Club,  Detroit,  Michigan,  February  21,  1890.) 

Citizenship!  What  is  citizenship?  It  has  a  broader 
signification  than  you  or  I  are  apt  to  give  it.  Citizenship 
does  not  mean  alone  that  the  man  who  possesses  it  shall 
be  obedient  to  the  law,  shall  be  kindly  to  his  neighbors, 
shall  regard  the  rights  of  others,  shall  perform  his  duties 
as  juror,  shall,  if  the  hour  of  peril  comes,  yield  his  time, 
his  property,  and  his  life  to  his  country.  It  means  more 
than  that.  It  means  that  his  country  shall  guarantee 
to  him  and  protect  him  in  every  right  which  the  Consti- 
tution gives  him.    What  right  has  the  republic  to  demand 


WILLIAM  P.  FRYE  99 

his  life,  his  property,  in  the  hoVir  of  peril,  if,  when  his 
hour  of  peril  comes,  it  fails  him? 

A  few  years  ago  King  Theodore,  of  Abyssinia,  seized 
Captain  Campbell,  a  British  citizen,  and  incarcerated 
him  in  a  dungeon  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  nine  thousand 
feet  high.  England  demanded  his  release,  and  King 
Theodore  refused.  England  fitted  out  and  sent  on  five 
thousand  English  soldiers,  ten  thousand  Sepoys,  debarked 
them  on  the  coast,  marched  them  nine  hundred  miles 
through  swamp  and  morass  under  a  burning  sun.  Then 
they  marched  up  the  mountain  height,  they  scaled  the 
walls,  they  broke  down  the  iron  gates,  they  reached 
down  into  the  dungeon,  they  took  that  one  British  citizen 
like  a  brand  from  the  burning,  and  carried  him  down  the 
mountain  side,  across  the  morass,  put  him  on  board  the 
white-winged  ship,  and  bore  him  away  to  England  in 
safety. 

Now,  a  country  that  has  an  eye  sharp  enough  to  see 
way  across  the  ocean,  way  across  the  morass,  way  up 
into  the  mountain  top,  way  down  into  the  dungeon,  one 
citizen,  one  of  her  thirty  millions,  and  then  has  an  arm 
strong  enough  to  reach  across  the  ocean,  way  across  the 
morass,  way  up  the  mountain  height  and  down  into  the 
dungeon,  and  take  that  one  and  bear  him  away  home  in 
safety  —  who  would  not  live  and  die,  too,  for  the  country 
that  can  do  that? 

I  tell  you,  my  friends,  this  country  of  ours  is  worth 
our  thought,  our  care,  our  labor,  our  lives.  What  a 
magnificent  country  it  is !  What  a  republic  for  the  people, 
where  all  are  kings!  Men  of  great  wealth,  great  power, 
great  influence  can  live  without  any  difficulty  in  a  mon- 
archy; but  how  can  you  and  I,  how  can  the  average  man, 


loo  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

live  under  despotic  power?  Oh,  this  blessed  republic  of 
ours  stretches  its  hand  down  to  the  men  and  lifts  them 
up,  while  despotism  puts  its  heavy  hand  on  their  heads 
and  presses  them  down.  This  blessed  republic  of  ours 
speaks  to  every  boy  in  the  land,  black  or  white,  rich  or 
poor,  and  asks  him  to  come  up  higher  and  higher.  You 
remember  that  boy  out  here  on  the  prairie,  the  son  of  a 
widowed  mother,  poor,  neglected  perhaps  by  all  except 
the  dear  old  mother.  But  the  republic  did  not  neglect 
him.  The  republic  said  to  that  boy,  "Boy,  there  is  a 
ladder,  its  foot  is  on  the  earth,  its  top  is  in  the  sky.  Boy, 
go  up."  And  the  boy  mounted  that  ladder  rung  by 
rung;  by  the  rung  of  the  free  schools,  by  the  rung  of  the 
academy,  by  the  rung  of  the  college,  by  the  rung  of 
splendid  service  in  the  United  States  army,  by  the  rung 
of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives,  by  the 
rung  of  the  United  States  Senate,  by  the  rung  of  the 
presidency  of  the  great  republic,  by  the  rung  of  a  patient 
sickness  and  a  heroic  death,  until  James  A.  Garfield 
stood  side  by  side  with  Washington. 

Now,  is  not  a  republic  like  that  worth  the  tribute  of 
our  conscience?  Is  it  not  entitled  to  our  best  thought, 
to  our  holiest  purpose  ?  But  this  is  not  all.  The  repub- 
lic does  not  perform  its  full  duty  unless  every  citizen  is 
protected,  whether  he  be  on  domestic  or  on  foreign  soil, 
in  all  the  rights  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  bestows  upon  him. 


GEORGE  W.  ATKINSON  XCi 


FREEMASONRY 


GEORGE  W.   ATKINSON 

Former  Governor  of  West  Virginia;  now  of  the  United  States 
Court  of  Claims 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  the  unveiling  and  dedicating  of  the 
Battle  Monument,  at  Point  Pleasant,  West  Virginia,  October  9, 
1909.) 

The  earliest  traces  of  Freemasonry  are  to  be  found, 
not  in  Judea,  but  in  Phoenicia,  especially,  in  the  old  city 
of  Tyre,  which  stood  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  The  inhabitants  of  that  city  were  the 
commercial  people  of  a  remote  antiquity,  and  the  begin- 
nings of  their  navigation  lie  beyond  human  history. 
They  controlled  Mediterranean  commerce,  and  were  the 
distributers  to  the  then  known  world  of  the  productions 
and  wares  of  Egypt  and  Babylon.  To  aid  in  this  com- 
merce, or  rather  to  protect  it,  the  greatest  monument  of 
antiquity  was  reared  on  the  coast  at  Tyre,  known  as 
the  Watch-Tower  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  was  erected 
about  1200  B.C.,  or  two  hundred  years  before  the  building 
of  Solomon's  temple.  The  builders  of  this  monument 
were  the  Gibelites,  inhabitants  of  the  Phoenician  town 
of  Byblus,  a  seaport  older  than  Tyre,  who  because  of 
their  occupation  —  that  of  operative  masonry  —  were 
known  as  "stone  squarers."  Long  centuries  ago  that 
monument  toppled  and  fell,  and  its  ruins,  now  partially 
buried  in  the  sand,  are  silent  witnesses  of  the  architec- 
ture of  operative  masonry  in  the  distant  past.  There, 
at  this  time,  fishermen  are  spreading  their  nets  on  the 


IQ2  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

desolate  rocks,  and  the  bright  waves  of  the  Mediterranean 
are  rolling  over  the  ancient  granite  columns.  To  lay 
the  foundation  of  this  monument  required  the  use  of  a 
level;  to  square  the  stone  that  of  the  square;  and  to 
round  the  columns  that  of  the  compasses.  Thus  it  was 
that  operative  masons  erected  a  monument  before  they 
built  a  temple.  Those  stupendous  works,  which  excited 
the  wonder  of  the  ancient  world  and  formed  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  mankind,  have  ages  since  moldered  into 
dust;  but  this  moral  edifice,  joining  the  vigor  of  youth 
to  the  maturity  of  age,  has  outlived  their  glory,  and 
now  mourns  over  the  ruins  of  their  fall. 

The  true  Mason  in  the  erection  of  his  own  temple 
builds  for  a  brighter  and  a  better  world  than  this.  He 
heeds  the  power  that  builded  worlds  and  carpeted  crea- 
tion's temple  with  flowers  and  stars;  that  same  power 
that  chains  the  lightning  to  its  chariot-wheels  and  rides 
peacefully  upon  the  storms,  that  same  power  which  tells 
us  that  if  a  man  dies  he  shall  surely  live  again.  Such 
power  the  Freemason  recognizes,  and  so  he  builds  for 
another  and  a  better  clime.  He  knows  that  the  day  will 
sometime  come  when  earth's  grandest  temples  will 
crumble  and  fall;  when  the  great  globe  itself  will  melt 
with  fervent  heat;  when  the  sun  will  drag  along  the  jar- 
ring heavens  and  refuse  to  shine;  when  the  light  of  the 
stars  will  pale  away;  when  the  moon  will  roll  up  the 
rending  sky  and  hang  her  latent  livery  on  the  wings  of 
the  dying  night;  when  a  mighty  angel  will  stand  with 
one  foot  upon  the  sea  and  the  other  on  the  land  and  will 
proclaim  that  time  itself  shall  be  no  more.  When  all 
this  shall  come,  as  come  it  will,  the  deeds  and  work  of 
the  true  Mason,  if  he  have  builded  wisely  and  well,  will 


ROBERT  M.  LA  FOLLETTE  103 

remain  indestructible,  immutable,  immortal,  panoplied 
in  perpetual  glory,  unaged  by  centuries,  unmarred  by 
change,  and  as  eternal  as  God. 


INDUSTRIAL  FREEDOM 

ROBERT  M.   LA  FOLLETTE 
United  States  Senator  from  Wisconsin 

(Extract  from  a  speech  on  the  Payne- Aldrich  tariff  bill,  delivered 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  June  2,  1909.) 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  here  to  employ  every 
means  possible  to  forestall  the  time  when  the  combina- 
tions of  this  country  shall  be  strong  enough  to  say  to  the 
combinations  of  other  countries,  "We  are  able  to  hand 
you  over,  without  entering  upon  the  field  of  competition, 
the  whole  American  market."  I  want  to  let  the  foreign 
producer  into  this  country  at  such  a  level  of  duty  as 
will  allow  his  productions  to  sell  in  the  market  here  as 
something  of  a  check  upon  excessive  prices  imposed 
upon  the  American  people  by  the  combinations  formed 
to  destroy  home  competition.     That  is  my  position. 

Mr.  President,  the  American  people  will  never  surrender 
their  industrial  liberty.  We  will  go  back  to  the  system 
of  competition  if  need  be  in  order  to  prevent  it,  even 
though  it  is  less  economical.  I  do  not  say  that  is  neces- 
sary, but  I  do  say  that  the  people  who  won  independence 
for  this  country  and  who  preserved  this  Government 
will  never  permit  their  markets  to  be  controlled  by  any 
combination  of  men  who  can  dictate  prices  for  raw  mate- 


104  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

rials  and  prices  for  finished  products  and  prices  for  human 
labor. 

We  talk  about  a  free  country.  Brave  men  went  out 
in  '6 1  to  keep  undivided  upon  the  map  of  America  these 
United  States  and  to  write  on  the  escutcheon  of  this 
country,  "There  shall  be  no  bondmen  under  the  flag." 
What  did  they  mean  by  that  ?  Do  you  think  they  meant 
just  taking  the  shackles  off  the  hands  ?  Is  that  freedom  ? 
No,  it  is  not.  Freedom,  true  freedom,  as  expressed  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  —  equality  for  all  men 
—  means  not  only  free  hands,  not  only  physical  freedom; 
it  means,  sir,  industrial  and  commercial  freedom,  equality 
of  opportunity,  and  a  fair  chance  for  every  man.  And 
you  are  building  up  a  system  here  that  will  destroy  the 
progress  of  our  country,  the  development  of  the  Ameri- 
can race.  Competition  may  be  wasteful,  but  under  the 
stimulus  of  competition  we  have  made  wonderful  prog- 
ress. We  have  outstripped  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
There  are  some  things  to  be  considered  in  the  life  of  a 
nation  besides  cheapness.  In  this  system  of  monopoly 
which  is  being  developed,  the  individual  opportunity  of 
which  we  are  so  proud  is  denied  the  boy  who  is  poor 
and  without  influence. 

But  with  all  this  phenomenal  growth  and  reduced  cost 
of  production,  because  of  the  uncontrolled  mastery  of 
the  markets  by  combinations,  the  consumer  has  been 
denied  any  share  in  cheapened  production;  and  there  is 
no  difference  in  principle  between  compelling  a  ma*i  to 
work  without  wages  and  compelling  him  to  pay  a  cer- 
tain price  for  what  he  buys,  when  these  prices  are  not 
fixed  by  the  arbitrary  decision  of  those  who  arbitrarily 
control  the  market. 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE  105 


ELEMENTS  OF  SUCCESS  IN  BUSINESS 

ANDREW  CARNEGIE 

(Extract  from  an  address  to  young  meft,  delivered  at  a  social 
gathering  of  the  Bible  Class  conducted  by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr., 
at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  New  York  city.) 

I  call  your  attention  to  several  important  things  which 
are  necessary  qualifications  for  the  successful  young  man. 
He  must  be  honest,  and  he  must  be  moral,  and  he  must 
be  sober. 

When  the  time  comes  for  one  to  take  a  young  man  into 
partnership,  what  ranks  first  ?  I'll  tell  you.  He  thinks 
of  your  character.  You  have  got  to  be  as  straight  as  a 
die,  incapable  of  doing  wrong,  honorable,  straightforward, 
and  loyal.  His  first  consideration  is  your  moral  charac- 
ter. Your  habits,  of  course,  must  be  correct.  He  wants 
integrity  above  everything.  The  man  who  drinks  liquor, 
he  will  not  do.  It  is  impossible  to  ever  trust  that  man 
again,  who  even  once  or  twice  drinks  to  excess.  You 
can  never  trust  a  man  in  business  who  allows  his  brain 
to  become  muddled.  Of  course,  you  would  never  enter 
a  bar-room  —  that  is  too  low.  The  tramp's  rule  is, 
"Never  work  between  meals."  Let  yours  be,  "Never 
drink  between  meals." 

Now,  there  are  three  classes  of  men  in  the  world  as  I 
see  it. 

First,  the  man  who  starts  out  with  wealth  as  his  aim. 
Why  should  we  aim  at  that  ?  Except  for  this  one  reason 
—  that  it  may  enable  you  to  do  so  much  for  others. 

Second,  the  young  man  who  starts  out  with  the  desire 
for  fame. 


106  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Third,  a  class  depicted  by  a  great  poet  who  died  too 
young,  Alexander  Smith,  a  famous  Scot.   Here  is  his  resolve : 
"I  will  go  forth  among  men 
Armored  in  a  pure  intent, 
Great  things  can  be  done: 
But  whether  I  stand  or  crownless  fall, 
It  matters  not  so  God's  work  be  done. 
Label  the  ocean  on  its  many  sands, 
Write  verses  in  its  praise, 
The  unmoved  sea  erases  both  alike. 
But  man,  vain  man,  unless  his  fellows  can 
Behold  his  deeds  he  cares  not  to  be  great: 
But  has  learned  to  love  the  deed  —  the  lightning  deed, 
Nor  heeds  the  thunder  following  after. 
Which  men  call  fame." 

That  is  the  idea  I  would  place  before  every  young  man. 
By  the  way,  here  is  a  story  which  Mr.  Blaine  told  me, 
and  which  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good.  We  were  talking 
about  General  Garfield.  Mr.  Blaine  said:  "Garfield  and 
I  traveled  through  Europe  together.  One  day  we  were 
talking  about  young  men,  what  was  their  great  preserva- 
tive from  evil  ways,  and  Garfield  said:  'Well,  this  thought 
has  been  my  best  help.  I  found  out  that  I  had  to  live 
with  Jim  Garfield,  and  that  Jim  was  sure  to  know  every- 
thing that  I  did  or  thought,  and  I  didn't  want  to  live 
with  a  mean,  low,  common,  vulgar,  coarse  fellow.  I 
wished  to  live  with  a  gentleman.'" 

"  What  is  a  gentleman  ?     Say,  is  it  birth 

Makes  a  man  noble,  or  adds  to  his  worth? 

Is  there  a  family  tree  to  be  had 

Shady  enough  to  conceal  what  is  bad? 

Seek  out  the  man  who  has  God  for  his  guide. 

Nothing  to  blush  for,  and  nothing  to  hide; 

Be  he  a  noble,  or  be  he  in  trade, 

This  is  the  gentleman  Nature  has  made." 


CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE  107 

Now,  if  you  will  carry  out  this  one  precept  in  your 
mind  you  cannot  go  wrong.  You  need  not  be  thinking 
nor  seeking  other  people's  respect  or  applause.  You  have 
only  one  question  to  ask  yourself  when  you  lie  down  at 
night.  "Do  you  retain  your  own  self-respect?"  If  you 
really  do,  don't  be  troubling  yourselves  about  what 
anybody  else  thinks  about  you,  you  are  all  right.  Shake- 
speare has  it,  as  usual,  just  to  the  point.  This  is  your 
great  rule,  follow  it,  and  all  is  well: 

"To  thine  own  self  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 


THE  MINUTEMAN  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION 

CHARLES  J.   BONAPARTE 

Of  the  Baltimore,  Maryland,  Bar;  former  Attorney-General  of  the 

United  States 

(The  concluding  part  of  an  oration  delivered  on  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Concord  fight,  April  19,  1900.) 

In  the  admirable  Concord  oration  of  Mr.  Curtis,  that 
oration  which,  for  those  who  heard  it,  must  surely  make 
another  seem  as  the  reverse  side  of  a  tapestry,  there  is 
mentioned  a  young  minuteman  of  twenty-two,  who, 
after  serving  with  conspicuous  gallantry  during  the 
entire  day,  was  mortally  wounded  just  before  its  close. 
He  sent  a  message  to  the  girl  he  loved,  a  short  and  very 
simple  message,  which  yet  deserves  a  thought.     "Tell 


108  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

her,"  said  the  dying  boy  to  his  father,  "tell  her  that  I 
am  glad  I  turned  out  this  morning."  May  we  rightly 
share  his  gladness  when  he  felt  his  allotted  task  was 
done  and  well  done,  his  free  offering  was  forever  accepted? 
In  this  day  of  Hague  conferences  and  arbitration  treaties 
may  we,  we  who  stand  on  the  threshold  of  the  twentieth 
century,  we  who  hear  many  words  about  the  barbarism 
of  warfare,  may  we  find  cause  to  rejoice  when  we  picture 
that  shadowed  home,  when  we  see  the  tears  fall  on  that 
young  grave,  when  we  remember  that  as  he  fell,  so  fell 
many  thousands,  as  mourned  those  who  loved  him  so 
mourned  a  whole  people  for  seven  long,  weary,  bloody 
years?  Yes,  we  may,  we  should;  such  memories  are 
our  truly  priceless  treasure,  more  precious  a  thousand- 
fold than  wealth  and  comfort,  than  knowledge  and  mate- 
rial progress,  than  art  and  refinement  of  manners.  All 
these  things  are  good,  but  all  of  them  have  been  denied 
to  nations  which  the  world  could  have  ill  spared;  that 
which  is  truly  vital,  that  which,  if  wanting,  can  be  replaced 
by  no  vanity  of  riches  and  no  pride  of  learning,  no  grandeur 
and  no  beauty  is  —  men;  a  national  existence  which  lacks 
these 

"Is  but  as  ivy  leaves  around  the  ruined  turret  wreath, 
All  green  and  wildly  fresh  without,  but  worn  and  gray  beneath:" 

a  living  crust  on  a  dead  core. 

If  then,  brethren,  you  see  too  often  in  our  public  life 
but  a  swinish  scuffle  for  sordid,  selfish  gain,  you  find 
among  our  public  men  figures  for  the  slow,  unmoving 
finger  of  scorn  to  point  at,  there  are  wafted  to  you  with 
voices  of  public  opinion  breaths  of  foulness  and  malice 
and  lies,  you  are  sickened  by  the  greed,  the  vulgar  vanity, 
the  cant,  the  falsehood,  the  grossness  which  degrade  and 


HENRY  N.  SNYDER  109 

poison  our  national  being,  I  bid  you  look  to  the  minute- 
man!  He  is  the  real  American;  he  is  our  true  fellow- 
countryman  ;  he  lives  in  the  nation's  life  and,  while  he 
so  lives,  while  we  can  yet  claim  kinship  with  him  and 
not  blush  for  our  own  unworthiness,  then,  under  God's 
providence,  America  will  live  as  a  nation,  and  live  in 
freedom  and  honor  among  men! 


KING'S    MOUNTAIN  — ITS    MEANING    AND 
MESSAGE 

HENRY  N.   SNYDER 
President  of  Wofford  College 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  King's  Mountain,  South  Carolina, 
October  7,  1909.) 

Early  in  September,  1780,  Colonel  Ferguson,  one  of 
the  Tory  commanders  of  the  British  forces  in  the  South, 
sent  a  message  to  the  mountain  chieftains  of  the  Watauga, 
the  Nolachucky,  and  the  Hols  ton,  that  if  they  did  "not 
desist  from  their  opposition  to  British  arms,  he  would 
march  his  army  over  the  mountains,  hang  their  leaders, 
and  lay  waste  their  country  with  fire  and  sword."  Wrongly 
he  reckoned  in  the  real  effect  of  such  a  message.  It  came 
as  a  challenge  to  men  little  accustomed  to  let  a  challenge 
pass  without  taking  it  up. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  September,  1780,  at  the  call  of 
their  leaders,  the  mountain  men  met  at  Sycamore  Shoals 
on  the  Watauga.  It  is  a  fateful  and  significant  gather- 
ing.   The  destiny  of  a  future  republic  is  involved  in  it. 


110  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Campbell  is  there  with  his  four  hundred  Virginians, 
Shelby  has  brought  two  hundred  and  forty  of  his  Holston 
men  to  join  them  to  an  equal  number  from  the  banks  of 
the  Watauga  under  Sevier.  Looking  back  upon  them 
from  this  distance  of  time,  one  must  say  that  it  is  a 
romantically  picturesque  company  of  men.  Clad  in  the 
familiar  fringed  hunting  shirt  of  the  frontiersman,  their 
long  hair  flowing  from  beneath  coonskin  or  minkskin 
caps,  their  feet  shod  in  the  moccasin  of  the  Indian  foes, 
in  their  belt  the  knife  and  tomahawk,  and  in  their  hands, 
ever  ready,  reaching  from  foot  to  chin,  the  long,  deadly 
rifle,  they  step  before  our  modern  eyes  as  singularly 
romantic  and  picturesque  figures.  They  are  our  knight- 
errants  of  the  wilderness  —  "the  advance  guard  of  west- 
ern civilization  and  the  rearguard  of  the  Revolution"; 
tall,  grim,  gaunt,  keen-eyed,  toil-hardened  men,  with 
nerves  of  steel  and  muscles  of  iron,  rude  of  speech,  rough 
of  manner,  and  stern  of  deed,  their  struggles  to  subdue 
the  wilderness  and  their  contests  with  the  Indians  had 
made  them  resourceful,  self-reliant,  independent,  brave. 

"To  catch  and  destroy  Ferguson"  had  been  the  cry 
of  the  mountaineers.  Now  they  were  ready  to  make  it 
good;  and  the  sun  of  October  7,  1780,  went  down  on  the 
last  of  Ferguson  and  his  men  —  all  slain  or  captured. 

But  they  had  done  far  more  than  destroy  Ferguson. 
Their  victory  sent  Cornwallis  from  Charlotte  back  to 
Winnsboro  all  but  panic-stricken,  freed  the  up-country 
of  the  horror  and  oppression  of  Tory  rule,  brought  a  new 
hope  and  courage  and  faith  to  the  patriotic  cause  every- 
where, and  became  the  turning  point  of  the  Revolution, 
making  Yorktown's  glad  day  a  near  possibility. 

Men  of  the  up-country  of  the  two  Carolinas  and  of 


HENRY  N.  SNYDER  III 

Georgia  of  that  elder  day!  You  have  the  reward  of  all 
your  sufferings  and  hardships  on  this  slope  on  that  day 
of  battle.  To-day  we  turn  back  to  you  in  gratitude  for 
the  priceless  legacy  you  left  us,  your  descendants.  Fit- 
ting it  is,  therefore,  that  we,  your  heirs,  should  dedicate 
to  your  memory  this  lofty  shaft.  Its  base  rests  upon 
the  hill  consecrated  to  your  valor  and  your  devotion  to 
the  cause  which  now  blesses  us,  and  you  were  men  of  the 
hills;  it  is  made  of  enduring  granite,  dug  from  the  very 
earth  over  which  you  marched  and  suffered,  and  you 
were  unyielding  granite  in  the  stubborn  virtues  of  your 
manhood;  it  points  the  way  to  the  blue  of  the  overarch- 
ing sky  from  its  deep  base  in  the  broad  bosom  of  the 
earth,  and  out  of  your  heroic  virtues,  born  out  of  the 
soil  that  you  won,  there  soared  high  over  all  the  aspiring 
ideals  of  home,  of  brotherhood,  of  the  same  rights  for 
all  and  special  privileges  to  none,  of  religious  and  political 
liberty,  in  a  republic  of  free  and  equal  men. 

It  was  for  these  ideals  that  you  fought  and  were  will- 
ing to  die.  That  granite  fiber  of  your  manhood,  that 
grim,  stern  battle  lust,  those  muscles  of  iron  and  nerves 
of  steel  —  all  were  but  the  servants  of  your  ideals.  These 
chiefly  constitute  your  glory.  You  did  your  whole  duty 
in  striving  to  make  them  real  in  your  own  way  and  by 
your  own  means,  and  we  of  to-day  honor  you  most  when 
we  turn  from  this  scene  and  these  exercises  and  this 
shaft  dedicated  to  your  memory,  possessed  with  the 
thought  that  it  shall  be  our  duty  to  meet  the  new  tasks, 
social,  industrial,  and  political,  that  have  come  to  us, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  ideals  which,  through  your  deeds  here 
performed,  make  this  spot  a  shrine  of  patriotic  worship 
for  all  Americans. 


112  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


A  PLEA  FOR  AMERICAN  DRAMA 

PERCY  MACKAYE 
Dramatist,  author,  and  lecturer,  of  Cornish,  New  Hampshire 

(Extract  from  an  address  on  "The  Dramatist  as  Citizen,"  deliv- 
ered in  February,  1909,  at  Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  and  Brown 
Universities,  and  elsewhere.) 

Sixteen  years  after  our  forefathers  landed  on  the 
barren  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay  they  brought  their 
bushels  of  wheat,  by  assessment,  to  Cambridge,  for  the 
endowment  of  Harvard  College.  They  realized  that 
Learning  could  not  stand  on  its  own  legs  without  a  full 
stomach.  They  did  not  require  their  ministers  to  com- 
pete in  the  market  of  commerce.  There  they  were  wise; 
and  we  inherit  that  wisdom.  Yet  they  were  not  suffi- 
ciently wise.  They  brought  no  wheat  for  the  sustenance 
of  art}  as  once  the  people  of  France  brought  their  all, 
and  dragged  their  very  hearthstones,  to  upbuild  the 
groins  and  sculptures  of  their  cathedrals.  The  Puritans 
still  thought  it  well  for  one-half  of  man's  nature  to  starve. 
There  they  were  foolish;  and  we,  in  large  measure,  inherit 
that  folly.  How  much  longer  must  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
be  upon  us? 

The  drama  is  splendidly  capable  of  reconciling  the 
best  ideals  of  the  Puritan,  the  Greek,  and  the  cathedral 
builder;  of  blending  in  one  lay  religion  the  service  of  the 
state  and  the  service  of  God.  The  drama,  I  say,  is 
capdble  of  doing  this,  in  a  theater  free  to  do  so;  but  the 
drama  is  not  able  to  do  this  in  a  theater  compelled  to 
do  otherwise.    Let  us  then  seek  to  reverse  the  old  adage, 


PERCY  MACKAYE  113 

and  henceforth  let  the  "nobody's  business"  of  freeing 
the  theater  from  commercial  bondage  be  "everybody's 
business"  who  loves  the  drama  and  his  country. 

Those  who  will  gainsay  such  a  purpose  —  and  they 
will  be  many  and  sincere  —  are  chiefly  those  who  do 
not  believe  that  the  drama,  the  dramatist's  profession, 
holds  any  such  lofty  possibilities  in  its  nature.  To  those 
I  reply,  The  possibilities  of  the  drama  are  limited  only 
by  the  possibilities  of  man.  Search  history,  search  the 
heart  of  man,  and  you  will  find  both  precedent  and 
prophecy  for  the  ideal  of  the  drama  as  the  ritual  of  a 
lay  religion;  for  the  ideal  of  the  theater  as  a  civic  temple 
of  the  people. 

Some  day  there  may  arise  amongst  us  a  supreme 
critic  of  American  potentialities  —  a  George  Brandes  and 
James  Bryce  in  one  —  who  shall  detect  and  marshal  the 
co-essentials  of  art  and  citizenship  with  such  lucid  sim- 
plicity that  we  shall  pause  aghast  to  behold  ourselves  for 
the  blundering  barbarians  we  are. 

Such  a  critic,  with  wisdom  and  humor  and  quiet  truth, 
will  remorselessly  convince  us  that  public  opinion  is 
devoid  of  common  sense  or  of  conscience  if  it  shall  con- 
tinue to  ignore  the  responsibilities  and  the  rights  of  the 
artist  as  citizen. 


114  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE 

NEWTON  C.   BLANCHARD 
Former  Governor  of  Louisiana 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  "Louisiana 
Day,"  September  14,  1904,  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition, 
St.  Louis,  Missouri.) 

The  century's  progress  has  been  marked  by  paths  of 
development  that  constitute  an  eloquent  tribute  to 
American  genius.  The  raising  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
at  New  Orleans  in  December,  1803,  was  something  more 
than  a  mere  transference  of  sovereignty.  It  was  the 
birth  of  a  new  epoch  of  civilization. 

Countless  evidences  of  the  marvelous  changes  from 
then  to  now  are  visible  everywhere  in  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  territory.  One  is  here  at  hand.  We  stand, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  sight  of  the  spot  where  in  1764 
Choteau  and  Laclede  threw  up  a  few  rude  huts  and  called 
the  place  St.  Louis.  What  a  transformation  since  that 
day!  The  trading-post  has  become  a  magnificent  metrop- 
olis, the  fourth  in  point  of  population  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  first  in  importance  in  many  lines  of  commercial 
activity. 

And  down  with  us,  where  the  great  river  enters  upon 
its  last  reach  before  mingling  its  waters  with  the  waves 
of  the  sun-kissed  Gulf,  we  have  her  sister,  New  Orleans, 
of  queenly  grace,  the  early  capital  of  the  Louisiana  terri- 
tory, the  glittering  gem  of  the  alluvial  valley  of  the  river, 
of  rapidly  augmenting  commercial  importance,  now 
second  only  to  New  York  as  a  port,  whose  coming  glory 


NEWTON  C.  BLANCHARD  115 

as  one  of  the  greatest  cities  of  America  may  be  easily 
discerned  by  him  gifted  with  the  power  to  forecast  the 
early  future. 

Time  is  the  book  of  life  upon  the  leaves  of  which 
the  world  writes  its  record.  Nations  come  and  go; 
generation  after  generation  turns  the  pages  upon  which 
without  reserve  the  world's  history  is  chronicled.  We 
must  not  think  it  is  all  of  man's  doings.  In  the 
fulness  of  time  events  ripen  and  consummation  follows. 
Man  is  merely  the  instrument  used  by  the  great 
Directing  Power. 

It  was  the  design  of  Providence  that  the  discovery  and 
settlement  of  this  country  by  France  was  made,  to  be 
afterward  transferred  to  the  authority  of  Spain;  and  it 
was  of  the  design  of  Providence  that  this  province  of 
Louisiana,  extending  from  the  Mississippi  well  nigh  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  should  pass  under  the  strong  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States. 

The  purchase  price  of  real  estate  transactions  between 
nations  has  usually  been  human  blood  and  human  life. 
Not  so  with  the  Louisiana  acquisition.  It  was  money 
only  that  it  cost  us.  Fifteen  millions  in  round  numbers, 
and  for  what  is  now  twelve  states  and  two  territories. 
Viewed  from  a  business  standpoint,  it  was  the  greatest 
real  estate  transaction  on  record  in  the  world's  history. 
Uncle  Sam  proved  himself  early  a  great  trader,  and  has 
kept  it  up  ever  since,  until  now  his  capacity  for  barter 
and  trade  and  large  business  affairs  and  commercial 
ventures  is  at  once  the  wonder,  the  admiration,  and  the 
envy  of  the  world. 

Those  who  took  part  in  the  great  transaction  —  wise 
as  they  were  —  fell  far  short  of  realizing  the  supreme 


Il6  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

importance  of  the  step  to  the  United  States.  The  master 
mind  of  Napoleon  came  nearer  it.  He  seems  to  have 
comprehended  in  a  large  degree  its  effect  on  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  foresaw,  as  the  result  of  the  acquisi- 
tion, the  coming  glory,  greatness,  and  power  of  the 
United  States. 


THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  SKY-LINE 

WALTER  WILLIAMS 

Dean  of  the  School  of  Journalism,  University  of  Missouri 

(Extract  from  a  lecture  with  above  title.) 

The  other  evening  I  saw  the  setting  sun  in  a  great 
city.  From  the  dome  of  a  tall  building  I  watched  the 
disappearance  of  the  day's  light.  The  city  lay  like  a 
picture  unrolled  upon  a  lawn.  The  darkness  came. 
First  the  shadows  swept  the  riverside  where  squalor 
lay.  Then  they  climbed  apace  and  the  tenement-houses, 
thronged  with  vice  and  poverty  and  crime,  were  blotted 
out  from  view.  Farther  the  shadows  moved  and  the 
huge  warerooms,  the  marts  of  trade  and  commerce, 
dropped  one  by  one  into  the  night's  oblivion.  A  moment 
more  and  the  residences  of  the  citizens,  the  homes  — 
the  little  spots  of  heaven  on  earth,  for  which  the  first 
mother  brought  the  architectural  plans  from  Paradise, 
from  which  half  the  world  goes  forth  at  morning  time 
to  return  at  even-song  and  feel  the  dearest  welcome,  the 
welcome  of  a  loving  woman's  outstretched  arms  —  these 
too  faded  into  twilight  and  vanished  all.    Had  the  city 


WALTER  WILLIAMS  1 17 

and  its  people,  its  teeming  millions  and  its  tragic  strife 
disappeared  into  the  night?  I  looked  again.  Far  on  a 
distant  eminence,  unnoticed  and  obscure  amid  the  garish 
day,  stood  a  little  church  of  unhewn  rocks.  Upon  its 
roof  some  reverent  hand  had  placed  a  golden  cross, 
symbol  in  all  ages  of  self-sacrifice  and  loving  service. 
The  city  had  melted  away,  as  by  a  magic  wand.  The 
last  rays  of  the  westering  sun  touched  the  cross  with  a 
good-night  kiss,  and  it  alone  of  all  the  city's  magnificence 
and  desolation,  its  sorrow  and  its  hope,  stood  out  in 
view.  To  follow  this  cross  by  day,  to  follow  it  when  the 
darkness  deepens  and  naught  else  remains,  I  summon 
you.  Its  central  heart  is  love,  its  outstretched  arms, 
self-sacrifice  and  service.  It  is  no  easy  task,  no  rose- 
water  campaign,  to  which  I  summon  you.  It  means 
hardships  and  toil,  the  scars  and  seams  of  sorrow,  Geth- 
semane,  Golgotha,  but,  please  God,  glory  just  beyond. 

Set  up  the  cross  in  the  sky-line  of  the  world,  amid  its 
smoking  chimneys,  its  teeming  enginery,  its  mighty  and 
new  problems,  and  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  for  which  we  * 
pray  in  word  or  thought  or  deed,  has  come  on  earth. 


MORAL  VISION 

JOHN  A.   RICE 
Pastor  of  the  Rayne  Memorial  M.  E.  Church,  South,  of  New  Orleans 

(Extract   from  a  baccalaureate   sermon  at  the   Commencement 
Exercises  of  Tulane  University,  1909.) 

Ruskin  has  somewhere  said  that  for  every  thousand 
that  can  talk  there  is  but  one  that  can  think,  and  for 


Ii8  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

W| 
every  thousand  that   can  think  there  is  but  one  that 
can  see. 

Moral  perspective  implies  seeing  not  only  On  the  near 
side  of  far  things,  but  also  the  far  side  of  near  things. 
Life  is  not  a  straight  line  by  which  we  can  move  away 
forever  from  the  things  of  to-day,  but  a  circle  which 
brings  us  back  to-morrow  to  where  we  stand  to-day. 
We  often  think  of  what  may  happen  when  we  go  into 
eternity.  The  truth  is  we  are  in  eternity  now.  We 
shall  never  be  any  nearer  to  God  than  we  are  this  morn- 
ing, any  more  under  the  sway  of  the  laws  of  eternal 
life.  Disturbing  causes  set  to  work  now  will  bring  effects 
in  disaster  sooner  or  later.  Many  a  wretched  soul  has 
spent  long,  weary  years  in  a  futile  effort  to  redeem  one 
fatal  hour.  Near  cuts  and  unfaithful  dealing  with  one's 
self,  and  with  the .  most  trivial  responsibility,  bring  us 
out  where  we  started,  often  bleeding  at  every  pore.  The 
fatal  hour  that  in  the  merciless  march  of  the  years  brings 
upon  us  the  crack  of  doom  may  seem  at  the  time  to  be 
without  significance.  Phillips  Brooks  was  once  asked 
what  was  the  greatest  thought  he  had  ever  had,  and, 
after  a  moment's  reflection,  replied,  "The  greatness  of 
the  small,  the  divinity  of  the  commonplace."  The  uni- 
verse, said  Emerson,  is  represented  in  each  of  its  parts. 
Any  of  us  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky,  but  only  the 
true  prophet  can  tell  the  signs  of  the  times.  And  this 
is  the  mission  of  the  college  men  and  women  of  to-day. 
They  must  be  eyes  for  those  who  are  blind.  For  the 
things  of  to-day  in  individual  and-  social  life  are  but 
bubbles  coming  up  out  of  abysmal  deeps  and  measureless 
areas  far  below  the  surface  and  far  beyond  the  grasp 
and  the  reach  of  the  multitude.    It  is  given  only  to  the 


JOHN  A.  RICE  119 

prophet  to  see  the  cloud  not  larger  than  a  man's  hand 
and  point  out  the  coming  storm.  We  may  be  sure  that 
only  the  true  and  the  right  have  any  chance.  "Truth 
is  like  a  foot-ball;  you  may  kick  it  about  all  day,  but 
when  night  comes  it  will  stand  out  round  and  smooth, 
with  not  a  scar  to  tell  that  it  has  been  hit."  It  is,  there- 
fore, of  vital  interest  that  we  have  eyes  for  relative  values. 
Some  things  that  to-day  seem  worth  dying  for  to-morrow 
are  not  worth  thinking  about,  while  some  things  that 
to-day  seem  not  worth  thinking  about  to-morrow  are 
worth  dying  for.  It  is  little  less  than  tragedy  when  we 
rig  up  a  derrick  to  lift  up  a  pebble,  and  depend  upon  a 
handspike  to  move  a  mountain.  There  is  no  more  vital 
element  of  success  than  perspective,  and  there  is  no 
greater  need  for  us  all  than  to  have  some  good  angel 
always  near  to  tell  us  when  our  "far- traveling  hearts" 
are  at  the  parting  of  the  ways. 

This  vision  of  the  invisible  in  right  perspective  comes 
only  to  those  who  are  prepared  for  it.  There  are  distinct 
levels  of  living,  and  we  cannot  see  higher  than  we  live. 
The  levels  of  our  lives  are  the  levels  of  our  vision.  And 
we  cannot  live  higher  than  our  capacities  and  powers 
have  been  trained  to  range.  Turner  was  once  showing 
one  of  his  gorgeous  pictures  to  a  superficial  woman  when 
she  said  to  him,  "I  don't  see  all  that  in  nature."  His 
reply  was,  "Don't  you  wish  you  could?"  To  Words- 
worth's man 

"A  primrose  on  the  river's  brim 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

When  Marconi  sent  his  first  wireless  message  to  a  ship 
in  mid-ocean,  there  were  thousands  of  ships  afloat,  but 


120  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

only  the  one  attuned  to  the  home  land  caught  the  mes- 
sage. There  is  a  sense  in  which  all  vision  is  a  projection 
of  self,  a  liberating  of  energies  pent  up  within. 

"Truth  is  within  ourselves;  it  takes  no  rise 
From  outward  things,  whate'er  you  may  believe. 
There  is  an  inmost  center  in  us  all, 
Where  truth  abides  in  fulness;  and  around, 
Wall  upon  wall,  the  gross  flesh  hems  it  in, 
This  perfect,  clear  perception  —  which  is  truth, 
A  baffling  and  perverting  carnal  mesh 
Binds  it,  and  makes  all  error ;  and  to  know 
Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendor  may  escape, 
Than  in  effecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supposed  to  be  without." 


THE  STAR-SPANGLED   BANNER 

HENRY  WATTERSON 

Editor  of  the  Louisville  "Courier- Journal" 

(From  an  address  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  over  the 
grave  of  the  author  of  "The  Star- Spangled  Banner,"  Frederick, 
Maryland,  August  9,  1898.) 

It  was  during  the  darkest  days  of  our  second  war  of 
independence.  An  English  army  had  invaded  and  occu- 
pied the  seat  of  the  national  Government  and  had  burned 
the  Capitol  of  the  nation.  An  English  squadron  was 
in  undisputed  possession  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  The 
British  were  massing  their  land  and  naval  forces  for 
other  conquests,   and,   as  their  ships  sailed  down  the 


HENRY  WATTERSON  121 

Potomac,  Dr.  William  Beanes,  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Maryland,  who  had  been  arrested  at  his  home  in  Upper 
Marlboro  charged  with  some  offense,  real  or  fancied, 
was  carried  off  a  prisoner. 

It  was  to  secure  the  liberation  of  this  gentleman,  his 
neighbor  and  friend,  that  Francis  Scott  Key  obtained 
leave  of  the  President  to  go  to  the  British  admiral  under 
a  flag  of  truce.  They  proceeded  down  the  bay  from 
Baltimore  and  found  the  British  fleet  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Potomac. 

It  was  finally  agreed  that  Dr.  Beanes  should  be  released; 
but,  as  an  advance  upon  Baltimore  was  about  to  be  made, 
it  was  required  that  the  party  of  Americans  should  remain 
under  guard  on  board  their  own  vessel  until  these  opera- 
tions were  concluded.  Thus  it  was  that  the  night  of  the 
fourteenth  of  September,  1814,  Key  witnessed  the  bom- 
bardment of  Fort  McHenry,  which  his  song  was  to  render 
illustrious. 

He  did  not  quit  the  deck  the  long  night  through.  With 
his  single  companion,  an  American  flag  officer,  they 
watched  every  shell  from  the  moment  it  was  fired  until 
it  fell.  The  firing  suddenly  ceased  some  time  before 
day;  and,  as  they  had  no  communication  with  any  of 
the  enemy's  ships,  they  did  not  know  whether  the  fort 
had  surrendered,  or  the  attack  upon  it  had  been  aban- 
doned. As  soon  as  day  dawned,  and  before  it  was  light 
enough  to  see  objects  at  a  distance,  their  glasses  were 
turned  to  the  fort,  uncertain  whether  they  should  see 
there  the  Stars  and  Stripes  or  the  flag  of  the  enemy. 
Blessed  vigil!  that  its  prayers  were  not  in  vain;  glorious 
vigil!  that  it  gave  us  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner!" 

During  the  night  the  conception  of  the  poem  began  to 


122  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

form  itself  in  Key's  mind.  With  the  early  glow  of  the 
morning,  when  the  long  agony  of  suspense  had  been 
turned  into  the  rapture  of  exultation,  his  feeling  found 
expression  in  completed  lines  of  verse,  which  he  wrote 
upon  the  back  of  a  letter  he  happened  to  have  in  his 
possession.  He  finished  the  piece  on  the  boat  that  car- 
ried him  ashore  and  wrote  out  a  clear  copy  that  same 
evening  at  his  hotel  in  Baltimore.  Next  day  it  appeared 
in  the  Baltimore  American.  Within  an  hour  after,  it 
was  circulating  all  over  the  city,  hailed  with  delight  by 
the  excited  people.  Published  in  the  succeeding  issue  of 
the  American,  and  elsewhere  reprinted,  it  went  straight 
to  the  popular  heart.  It  was  quickly  seized  for  musical 
adaptation.  Wherever  it  was  heard  its  effect  was  elec- 
trical, and  thenceforward  it  was  universally  accepted  as 
the  national  anthem. 

The  poem  tells  its  own  story,  and  never  a  truer,  for 
every  word  comes  direct  from  a  great  heroic  soul,  powder- 
stained  and  dipped,  as  it  were,  in  sacred  blood. 

"O,  say,  can  you  see  by  the  dawn's  early  light 

What  so  proudly  we  hailed  at  the  twilight's  last  gleaming, 
Whose  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars,  through  the  perilous  fight, 
O'er  the  ramparts  we  watched  were  so  gallantly  streaming?" 

The  two  that  walked  the  deck  of  the  cartel  boat  had 
waited  long.  They  had  counted  the  hours  as  they 
watched  the  course  of  the  battle.  But  a  deeper  anxiety 
yet  is  to  possess  them.  The  firing  has  ceased.  Ominous 
silence!  Whilst  cannon  roared  they  knew  that  the  fort 
held  out.  Whilst  the  sky  was  lit  by  messengers  of  death 
they  could  see  the  national  colors  flying  above  it. 

—  '  the  rockets'  red  glare,  the  bombs  bursting  in  air, 

Gave  proof  through  the  night  that  our  flag  was  still  there!" 


WILLIAM  H.  FLEMING  123 

But  there  comes  an  end  at  last  to  waiting  and  watching, 
and  as  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  shoot  above  the  horizon 
and  gild  the  eastern  shore,  behold  the  sight  that  gladdens 
their  eyes  as  it 

—  "  catches  the  gleam  of  the  morning's  first  beam, 
In  full  glory  reflected  now  shines  on  the  stream," 

for  there,  over  the  battlements  of  McHenry,  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  float  defiant  on  the  breeze,  whilst  all  around 
evidences  multiply  that  the  attack  has  failed,  that  the 
Americans  have  successfully  resisted  it,  and  that  the 
British  are  withdrawing  their  forces.  For  then,  and  for 
now,  and  for  all  time,  come  the  words  of  the  anthem: 
"O,  thus  be  it  ever,  when  freemen  shall  stand 

Between  their  loved  homes  and  the  war's  desolation! 
Blest  with  victory  and  peace,  may  the  heaven-rescued  land 
Praise  the  power  that  hath  made  and  preserved  us  a  nation!", 

for  — 

—  "conquer  we  must  when  our  cause  it  is  just, 
And  this  be  our  motto,  'In  God  is  our  trust'; 

And  the  star-spangled  banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave!" 


THE  FLAG  OF  THE  UNION 
William  H.  Fleming 

Former  Congressman  from  Georgia 

(A  speech  delivered  on  Memorial  Day,  1895,  in  presenting,  on 
behalf  of  the  state  of  Georgia,  a  flag  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Sixth 
Regiment.) 

I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you,  in  the  name  of 
the  state  of    Georgia,  this  banner,  under  whose  silken 


124  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

folds  you  will  hereafter  march  in  peace  or  in  war,  as  the 
God  of  fate  may  decree. 

With  unfeigned  patriotic  pride  I  point  you  to  the  fact 
that  this  is  the  old  flag  of  the  Union,  that  Union  for 
whose  cementing  and  freedom  in  the  Revolution  of  '76, 
these  Southern  colonies  made  such  glorious  contribution 
of  statesmen  and  soldiers.  It  is  the  same  flag  that  in 
181 2  waved  over  Southern  men  under  the  indomitable 
leadership  of  Andrew  Jackson  at  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  when  British  foes  lay  for  the  second  time  humbled 
at  the  feet  of  American  valor.  It  is  the  same  flag  that 
in  1846  floated  proudly  over  that  army  of  Southern  sol- 
diers who  marched  into  Mexico  —  one  of  the  handsomest, 
bravest,  knightliest  bands  of  warriors  that  ever  faced  a 
foe.  It  is  the  same  flag  that,  by  Southern  hands  and 
Southern  hearts,  amid  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  was 
planted  at  last  in  victory  on  the  heights  of  Monterey, 
and  the  same  flag  that  caught  the  enraptured  gaze  of  that 
soldier  without  stain  —  the  bravest  of  the  brave  —  Col. 
Jefferson  Davis,  when,  amid  carnage  and  death,  he 
twice  saved  the  day  at  Buena  Vista.  Yes,  again,  it  is 
the  same  flag,  with  the  same  stars  and  stripes,  that  after 
four  years  of  the  bloodiest  civil  war  recorded  in  the 
annals  of  time,  was  raised  in  victory  at  Appomattox,  to 
receive  the  homage  of  our  peerless  Lee,  when  the  stars 
and  bars  had  gone  down  in  defeat,  but  not  in  dishonor. 

And  here  in  the  shadow  of  that  monument,  in  the 
marble  presence  of  Lee  and  Jackson  and  Walker  and 
Cobb,  and  of  that  private  soldier  fitly  lifted  above  them 
all,  because  he  oftenest  bared  his  breast  to  the  storm 
of  battle  —  here  in  the  presence  of  these  sacred  memorials 
of  our  dead,  turning  our  backs  to  the  night,  and  our 


WILLIAM  H.  FLEMING  125 

faces  to  the  morning,  we  rejoice  that  we  can  still  look 
upon  the  flag  of  the  Union  and,  in  the  spirit  of  Daniel 
Webster,  invoke  from  Almighty  God  the  blessing  that, 
when  life  is  done  and  our  eyes  are  closing  upon  all  earthly 
scenes,  "their  last  lingering  glance  may  behold  the  broad 
ensign  of  the  republic  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and 
trophies  streaming  in  all  their  original  luster,  with  not  a 
single  stripe  erased  and  not  a  single  star  obscured,  bearing 
for  its  motto  no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as  "What 
is  all  this  worth?"  or  those  other  words  of  delusion  and 
folly,  "Liberty  first  and  Union  afterward,"  but  every- 
where, spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living  light,  and 
blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds  as  it  floats  over  the  land 
and  over  the  sea,  and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole 
heavens,  that  other  sentiment  dear  (at  last)  to  every 
American  heart,  "Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever, 
one  and  inseparable." 

Yes,  thank  Heaven,  it  is  our  flag,  ours  in  past  achieve- 
ments, ours  in  present  allegiance,  and  ours  in  future 
glory. 

May  the  God  of  the  nations  grant  that  never  again 
shall  our  people  be  summoned  from  their  peaceful  homes 
by  the  loud  tocsin  of  war;  but  if  this  is  not  to  be  our 
lot,  and  duty  should  call  to  arms,  I  charge  you,  by  the 
glorious  memory  of  the  past  —  I  charge  you  that  you 
suffer  no  stain  upon  this  flag,  but  guard  it  with  your 
lives  and  with  your  sacred  honor. 


126  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  COHERENT  LIFE 

BLISS  PERRY 
Editor  of  the  "Atlantic  Monthly" 

(Extract  from  a  Commencement  oration  delivered  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maine,  June,  1909.) 

Readers  of  Carlyle's  Journal  may  recall  a  certain 
passage  written  in  October,  1841.  Carlyle  was  then 
forty-five;  it  was  seven  years  since  he  had  come  up  from 
the  Scotch  moors  to  London;  his  own  powers  seemed  ill- 
adapted  to  his  epoch  and  circumstances;  "it  is  a  strange 
incoherency,  this  position  of  mine,"  he  writes  —  and 
then  adds  this  flashing  sentence:  "But  what  is  life  except 
the  knitting  up  of  incoherences  into  coherence?  Courage ! " 

Our  mortal  task,  then,  according  to  the  Scotch  prophet, 
is  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos,  consistency  out  of  incon- 
sistency. The  character  of  each  person  should  somehow 
hang  together.  It  should  be  all  of  one  piece.  The  ideal 
life,  for  the  individual  and  for  society,  is  the  coherent 
life.  These  words  will  suggest,  perhaps,  those  other  coun- 
sels of  perfection,  "the  strenuous  life"  and  "the  simple 
life,"  which  not  many  years  ago  were  fully,  not  to  say 
exhaustively,  urged  upon  our  attention.  The  doctrine 
of  "the  strenuous  life"  was  surely  one  of  the  most  super- 
fluous gospels  ever  preached  to  the  American  people. 
"The  simple  life"  was  and  is  more  gracious  in  its  invita- 
tion to  the  spirit;  but  as  a  practical  program  it  has  its 
difficulties.     The  coherent  life  is  a  clearer  working  model. 

Coherence  is  not  opposed  to  richness  of  function  and 
ornament,  to  manifold  variety  of  organization  and  capac- 


BLISS  PERRY  127 

ity.  But  it  does  suggest  the  presence  of  some  unifying 
principle,  some  coordinating  force;  and  likewise  the  prac- 
tical ability  not  only  to  plan  one's  work,  but  to  work  one's 
plan.  Engineers  affirm  that  a  ship  "finds  herself"  after 
a  voyage  or  two;  there  is  a  subtle  adjustment  of  part 
to  part,  until  all  that  complicated  mechanism  seems  to 
take  on  brain,  soul,  personality.  A  man  "pulls  himself 
together,"  as  we  say,  after  some  disintegrating  experience, 
such  as  bereavement,  failure,  mental  or  physical  dissipa- 
tion, or  it  may  be  after  the  shock  of  new  ideas,  the  bewil- 
dering vision  of  wider  horizons.  He  adjusts  himself,  pain- 
fully or  joyfully,  to  the  altered  conditions,  and  lives  once 
more  a  coherent  life. 

When  we  agree,  therefore  —  as  we  doubtless  shall  — 
to  praise  the  principle  of  coherence,  we  must  make  one 
reservation.  Our  pattern  of  behavior  and  conduct  must 
not  be  too  small.  The  rights  of  growth  must  be  safe- 
guarded. Vitality  is  the  essential  thing.  The  plant  is 
worth  more  than  the  pot.  What  seems  incoherent  often 
seems  so  because  it  is  full  of  matter;  just  as  people  some- 
times stutter  because  they  have  so  much  to  say.  Your 
only  truly  consistent  man  is  the  man  who  is  dead;  and 
even  his  tombstone  will  bear  watching.  Human  society 
advances  irregularly.  Its  alignment  is  always  imperfect. 
It  gains  ground  here  and  loses  there.  We  tug  at  the 
ropes,  take  up  the  slack  a  little,  hold  hard,  get  together, 
and  take  up  the  slack  again.  Our  best  efforts  are  often 
ill-timed,  unrhythmical;  we  are  pulling  against  our  com- 
rades without  knowing  it.  There  is  incoherent  energy 
enough  all  around  us;  there  is  a  constant  lack  of  dis- 
ciplined energy. 

But  beneath  the  surface  of  passionate  and  selfish  and 


128  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

cynical  discussion  there  are  streams  of  right  tendency, 
currents  of  humanized  thoughts  and  feelings.  You  must 
penetrate  to  them,  put  yourselves  into  wholesome  rela- 
tions with  them.  If  you  are  shocked  at  the  contradic- 
tions, the  grotesque  inequalities  of  the  human  lot,  then 
do  something  to  level  and  adjust  those  inequalities. 

We  find  our  job,  ordinarily,  by  working  at  it,  and  we 
simplify  it  as  we  go  along.  We  have  first  to  pull  our- 
selves together  into  physical  and  mental  coherence,  and 
then  to  pull  all  together  like  a  good  crew.  Your  race  will 
be  rowed  on  the  river  and  not  in  the  academic  gymnasium. 
The  gymnasium  has  been  useful.  Your  chosen  univer- 
sity has  taught  you  something  of  discipline,  of  reverence 
for'  established  institutions,  of  insight  into  the  intricate 
web  of  human  affairs.  For  all  its  guidance  toward  a 
coherent  mastery  of  your  life,  you  should  be  grateful. 
And  if  your  university  has  "unsettled"  your  provincial 
views,  jolted  you  out  of  the  ruts  of  complacency,  given 
you  startling  material  for  thought,  pointed  out  new  and 
far  distant  goals  for  yourselves  and  for  mankind,  you 
should  be  grateful  for  this  also. 

The  fabric  of  life  should  be  full  and  rich  and  honestly 
woven.  If  an  artificial  symmetry  of  pattern  has  been 
gained  by  excluding  what  really  belongs  in  life's  texture, 
it  will  all  have  to  be  unraveled  and  the  threads  painfully 
woven  together  again.  Coherence  is  the  law  of  life. 
With  bodily  tissues  momently  breaking  down  and  as 
momently  renewed,  with  minds  daily  distracted,  but  also 
daily  concentrated  upon  some  task,  with  spiritual  ener- 
gies forever  withering,  but  forever  refreshed  from  the 
deep  springs,  the  generations  go  forth  to  their  work  and 
to  their  labor  until  the  evening.    Here  and  there  in  the 


FRANCIS  G.  PEABODY  129 

endless  procession  you  will  see  a  man  rich  in  intellectual 
interests  and  abounding  in  practical  service  who  has  so 
ordered  his  activities  that  he  has  a  right  to  say  with 
proud  simplicity,  "This  one  thing  I  do."  That  man  is 
to  be  envied,  for  he  has  found  the  secret  of  the  coherent 
life. 


COMMERCIALISM  AND  IDEALISM 

FRANCIS  G.  PEABODY 
Professor  of  Christian  morals  in  Harvard  University 

(From  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society, 
New  York  city,  December,  1907.) 

There  is  a  picture  in  the  State  House  of  Minnesota 
which  tells  the  story  of  American  experience.  A  prairie 
schooner  with  its  oxen  is  toiling  westward,  bearing  a 
plain  family  to  some  undiscovered  home,  and  above  this 
prosaic  caravan  hover  the  angels  of  hope  and  faith  and 
love,  pointing  the  way  to  go.  Below  is  the  spirit  of  com- 
mercialism, and  above  the  spirit  of  idealism,  and  the 
plodding  life  of  America  marches  on  between  the  angels 
and  the  soil. 

Here,  then,  we  stand,  in  these  days  which  are  testing 
the  American  character,  and  in  the  conflict  of  these  two 
forces  lies  the  problem  of  our  future.  Are  we  to  be  the 
victims  of  our  own  prosperity,  and  robbed  of  our  ideals 
by  the  very  magnitude  of  our  commercial  gains?  Then 
we  shall  go  the  way  of  earlier  nations,  Persia,  Egypt, 
Rome,  and  the  history  of  our  decline  will  become  a  warn- 


130  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

ing  and  a  by-word  to  the  world.  Or  is  it  possible  that 
the  very  conditions  of  our  commercial  life  are  likely  to 
create  among  us  a  new  idealism;  not  the  languid  and 
esthetic  taste  which  drives  people  away  from  our  democ- 
racy and  makes  them  at  home  among  aristocracies,  mon- 
archies, castles,  and  ruins,  but  the  robust  and  virile 
idealism  which  issues  from  great  tasks,  summoning  to 
their  service  the  best  that  is  in  men?  Many  signs  of 
the  times,  I  think,  may  encourage  one  in  the  belief  that 
this  emergence  of  a  new  idealism  is  actually  occurring 
at  the  present  time,  and  that  our  future  may  be  surveyed 
with  a  confident,  even  though  it  may  be  an  anxious,  hope. 
Not  with  a  foolish  optimism,  then,  yet  not  with  despon- 
dency or  despair,  we  may  survey  the  perplexing  and 
often  disturbing  movements  of  our  industrial  and  polit- 
ical life.  We  remain  a  trading,  producing,  money- 
making  people,  and  whatever  character  we  may  achieve 
must  be  wrought  out  of  this  material  of  our  real  world; 
but  this  material,  though  it  be  coarse  as  the  clay  with 
which  the  artist  works,  is  the  form  and  mold  in  which 
our  inherited  idealism  may  find  new  expression  and 
beauty.  The  blood  of  the  fathers  flows  still  in  the  chil- 
dren. The  flood  of  our  commercialism  has  not  drowned 
the  instincts  of  our  idealism.  There  is  a  bridge  at  Geneva, 
set  where  two  rivers  meet  in  the  turbulent  rivalry  of 
conflicting  currents.  One  stream,  the  Rhone,  has  flowed 
down  between  pasture  banks  and  runs  clear  as  crystal 
in  a  broad,  deep  channel.  The  other  stream,  the  Aar, 
is  a  glacial  torrent,  hurrying  and  tumultuous  with  the 
melting  of  the  ice.  For  a  time  the  muddy  torrent  seems 
to  overwhelm  the  broader  Rhone,  and  its  tranquillity  and 
transparency  are  submerged  and  defiled;  but  soon  the 


WENDELL  PHILLIPS  STAFFORD  131 

glacial  impurities  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  stream,  and 
the  Rhone  sweeps  unvexed  and  unpolluted  to  the  sea. 
So  meet  the  forces  of  commercialism  and  idealism  in 
American  life,  and  the  turbulent  current  seems  to  over- 
whelm the  tranquil  flow;  and  as  one  leans  over  the  bridge 
of  time  it  seems  as  though  the  resulting  river  must  be  a 
turbid  glacial  stream.  Steadily,  however,  from  the  foun- 
tains of  an  honorable  past  the  springs  of  idealism  send 
down  their  full  supply,  until  at  last  the  broader  current 
of  idealism  may  subdue  the  rush  of  commercialism,  and 
the  Rhone  of  American  democracy  flow  to  the  ocean  of 
its  destiny,  unvexed  and  free. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  IN  RETROSPECT 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS   STAFFORD 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  Isle  la  Motte,  July  9, 
1909,  at  the  tercentenary  celebration  of  the  discovery  of  Lake 
Champlain.) 

When  Champlain  passed  the  place  where  we  now 
stand,  he  was  forty-two  years  old,  —  at  the  prime  of  life, 
in  the  full  flower  of  his  strength.  For  a  dozen  years  he 
had  followed  the  sea,  as  his  father  had  done  before  him. 
He  had  been  born  in  one  of  its  ports  on  the  shore  of 
France.  He  had  seen  Spain  and  Mexico,  Panama  and 
the  West  Indies.  He  had  crossed  and  recrossed  the 
Atlantic.  He  had  cruised  and  mapped  the  New  Eng- 
land coast,  sailed  up  the  broad  St.  Lawrence,  and  only 


132  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  year  before  had  laid  the  foundations  of  Quebec. 
Much  lay  behind  him,  but  at  least  as  much  before.  He 
was  yet  to  make  many  voyages,  to  explore  the  Ottawa, 
to  discover  two  of  the  Great  Lakes  —  Ontario  and  Huron 
—  and  to  stand  in  the  place  of  his  King  as  governor  of 
Canada.  He  belonged  to  that  great  breed  of  men  the 
age  brought  forth  abundantly,  —  a  scholar  and  a  soldier. 
He  knew  how  to  act  as  well  as  think;  he  could  fight  as 
well  as  pray.  He  had  courage  to  push  out  into  the  wil- 
derness, and  science  to  make  clear  his  course,  and  lan- 
guage to  record  for  after  times  what  he  had  seen  and 
done,  —  a  hand  firm  on  the  tiller  of  state,  a  heart  devoted 
to  the  cross.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better  type 
of  the  France  of  his  day  —  able,  ambitious,  devout  — 
grasping  for  King  and  Church  at  the  best  the  new  world 
had  to  offer. 

Here,  the  two  proudest  nations  of  the  old  world  were 
to  have  their  final  grapple  for  the  fairest  portion  of  the 
new.  As  it  had  been  before  the  white  man  came,  so  was 
it  still  to  be,  —  the  valley  of  beauty  was  the  highway  of 
war.  The  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence  was  peopled  by  the 
French.  The  coast  of  the  Atlantic  from  Cape  Breton 
to  the  south  was  peopled  by  their  hated  rivals.  That 
was  enough.  Here  ran  the  unpeopled  passageway 
between  the  two,  and  for  a  hundred  years  none  but  a 
fool  would  have  built  a  home  beyond  the  shelter  of  a  fort 
in  all  these  fertile  acres. 

In  1757  the  greatest  man  in  England  took  the  reins, 
and  in  two  years  the  French  dream  of  North  American 
dominion  had  dissolved.  William  Pitt  was  master. 
Quebec  was  taken.  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga  were 
in  English  hands,  and  the  red  horrors  of  one  hundred  and 


WENDELL  PHILLIPS  STAFFORD  133 

fifty  years  were  to  be  thenceforward  but  a  thrilling  fire- 
side tale. 

The  legends  of  that  ghastly  time  lie  all  around  us; 
and  memories  of  the  later  wars  that  swept  the  lake  are 
thick  as  leaves  of  summer,  and  colored  like  the  leaves  of 
autumn  with  glory  and  romance.  We  have  only  to 
reach  out  our  hands  to  take  them.  For  seven  days  now 
the  conjurer's  wand  has  been  waved  over  this  lovely 
valley  calling  the  dead  to  life.  We  have  gone  through 
the  wicket  gate  of  old  Fort  Ti  step  for  step  with  Allen. 
We  have  seen  Arnold,  still  wearing  the  rose  of  loyalty 
uncankered  by  the  worm  of  treason.  We  have  fought 
with  him  his  desperate  fight  at  Valcour,  and  leaped  with 
him  from  his  flaming  bowsprit  at  Panton.  We  have 
watched  the  British  fleet  weigh  anchor  off  this  shore 
and  move  southward  to  its  doom  at  the  hands  of 
the  invincible  Macdonough.  Memorial  and  procession, 
speech  and  song  and  pageant  have  taken  up  the  threads 
of  ancient,  half-forgotten  life,  and  made  the  glowing 
pattern  live  anew.  Again  we  see  the  plumed  and  painted 
savage  on  the  trail,  the  settler  working  with  his  flint- 
lock in  the  hollow  of  his  arm,  the  Highlander  in  his  plaid, 
the  hireling  Hessian  in  his  scarlet  coat,  the  Colonist  in 
his  deerskin  or  his  buff  and  blue,  the  French  and  British 
regulars  who  wear  upon  their  breasts  the  trophies  of 
world-famous  battles  over-sea.  And  as  we  look  we 
seem  to  see  the  gathering  of  the  nations,  not  now  for  war, 
but  for  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  under  happier  skies. 


134  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


OUR  DUTY  TO  POSTERITY 

WILLIAM  M.    SLOANE 
Professor  of  History,  Columbia  University 

(Extract  from  a  speech  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society 
of  New  York  city,  December  22,  1908.) 

When  I  look  at  the  splendors  of  this  feast,  considering 
what  wealth  and  elegance  are  here  represented,  and 
then,  in  contrast,  recall  the  keen  air,  the  reluctant  soil, 
the  scanty  fare  of  early  New  England,  I  am  reminded 
of  a  well-attested  Napoleon  anecdote.  When  the  two 
older  brothers  Bonaparte  were  rehearsing,  in  full  impe- 
rial costume,  for  the  coronation  ceremonies,  Napoleon, 
strutting  in  plush  and  vair,  cast  a  backward  glance 
over  the  sweeping  train  of  his  robe  and  called,  "  Joseph, 
if  our  father  could  see  us  now!"  So,  when  we  recall  the 
hill-farm  and  the  chores,  the  plashing  saw-mill  and  the 
slippery  skids,  or  the  fishing  smack  and  trading  schooners, 
or  even  the  somewhat  richer  sources  of  trade  from  which 
our  stocks  were  reared,  we  might,  in  boyish  glee,  exult 
and  wonder  what  those  Puritan  forefathers,  somber, 
serious,  and  staid;  or  the  Puritan  foremothers,  care-worn, 
pious,  diligent,  —  what  those  earliest  generations  would 
think  of  us  now. 

Why  is  our  Puritan  conscience  uneasy,  and  why  are 
our  pleasures  nowadays  so  carefully  masked,  so  closely 
associated  with  charity  and  reform  and  almsgiving  ?  Why, 
as  our  faith  has  weakened,  has  our  philanthropy  strength- 
ened? Why  this  deprecatory  attitude  toward  the  poor, 
this  pity  for  sorrow,  and  this  awful  leniency  toward  crime? 


WILLIAM  M.  SLOANE  135 

Because,  amdhg  the  foremost  reasons,  we  have  not 
ourselves  clean  hands,  because  we  have  robbed  posterity, 
or,  in  the  elegant  phrase  of  the  market,  have  discounted 
the  future;  because  we  are  dissipating  the  heritage  of 
our  children  and  wasting  the  substance  of  generations 
yet  to  come.  There  is  no  necessity  to  recapitulate  the 
national  waste.  Volume  after  volume  exhibits  it  in  charts 
and  statistics,  the  columns  of  our  newspapers  are  filled 
with  it,  the  politicians  feel  the  rising  tide  of  indignation, 
and  national  bureaus  are  reaching  out  in  all  directions  to 
take  charge  of  our  national  resources. 

In  general,  an  optimist  is  a  man  who  has  just  been 
talking  to  a  pessimist.  You  will  probably  be  more 
optimistic  than  ever  a  few  minutes  hence.  You  will 
renew  your  zeal  for  retrenchment,  economy,  and  all  the 
virtues  of  the  ancestry  we  worship  here  to-night.  You 
will  recall  that,  while  much  has  been  squandered,  much 
is  left.  You  will  accept  the  inevitable;  but,  if  your 
blood  is  Puritan,  you  will  gird  yourselves  to  battle  with 
the  thousand  showy  foes  who  are  conquered  before  con- 
flict, subdued  in  the  very  act  of  organizing  for  conflict. 
You  will  remember  the  law  of  history  that,  do  what  we 
may,  each  generation  accepts,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
the  hardly  won  conquests  of  its  predecessor,  considering 
them,  not  as  a  precious  privilege,  but  as  a  mere  inherent 
right,  and  thence  proceeds  on  its  own  struggle  for  more; 
for  more  wants  and  more  gratification  of  those  wants. 
Out  of  the  simple  inevitably  rises  the  complex,  from  the 
one  the  many.  We  call  it  progress,  the  forefathers  we 
celebrate  would  have  called  it  degeneracy.  But  whatever 
name  we  give  it,  the  process  is  inevitable;  and  the  needed 
wealth  we  must  and  will  find  in  battle  for  expansion: 


136  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

in  wars  of  conquest,  in  civil  wars,  or  in  economic  wars, 
alike  merciless  and  embittered.  The  warp  and  woof  of 
time  are  woven  for  us,  but  we  are  not  patterns  on  it  nor 
puppets  in  action.  With  indomitable  will  and  a  strong 
right  arm  and  an  untiring  tongue  we  may  warn  and  we 
may  struggle  for  justice,  justice  to  man  among  our  con- 
temporaries and  justice  to  man  among  posterity.  If  we 
do,  we  may  view  the  future  calmly;  if  we  shirk,  our 
fears  will  come  on  us  like  a  strong  man  in  the  night  and 
horrors  will  continue  to  destroy  our  rest. 


THE  CONSERVATION  OF  THE  STATES 

EDWARD  T.   TAYLOR 
Congressman  from  Colorado 

(Extract  from  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Feb- 
ruary 1,  19 10.) 

I  cannot  believe  that  either  the  President  or  Congress 
will  attempt  to  ruthlessly  trample  upon  the  inherent 
rights  of  the  western  states  to  the  profit  of  their  own 
resources.  If  there  is  to  be  any  royalty  imposed  upon 
the  coal,  asphaltum,  or  any  of  the  rest  of  our  resources, 
the  proceeds  should  pass  into  the  treasury  of  the  state 
whose  resources  are  being  thus  administered.  We  have 
no  objection  to  the  temporary  withdrawal  of  the  public 
domain,  pending  an  expeditious  passage  of  wise  and 
systematic  laws  safeguarding  their  disposal;  and  there 
should,  of  course,  be  practical  and  carefully  prepared 
restrictions.    But  we  insist  that  the  policy  of  this  Govern- 


EDWARD  T.  TAYLOR  137 

ment,  ever  since  the  adoption  of  our  federal  Constitu- 
tion, has  been  that  each  state  was  entitled  to  and  has 
always  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the  natural  wealth  and 
resources  and  climatic  conditions  within  its  borders.  We 
simply  ask  at  your  hands  and  of  this  Administration  the 
application  of  that  same  principle  to  the  states  of  the 
West  that  has  always  prevailed  in  and  been  accorded 
to  the  older  commonwealths.  Moreover,  the  legitimate 
and  practical  regulation  and  control  and  safeguarding  of 
the  resources  of  each  state  should  be  within  the  province 
of  the  state  government,  and  whatever  revenues  are 
derived  therefrom  should  pass  into  the  state  and  county 
treasuries. 

American  citizens  do  not  take  kindly  to  absentee  land- 
lordism. We  do  not  relish  tyrannical  interference  with 
our  local  affairs.  We  do  not  like  bureaucratic  rule.  We 
prefer  to  be  governed  by  law  and  by  our  own  people. 
We  want  laws  intelligently  framed  in  the  light  of  the  wel- 
fare of  the  governed,  as  well  as  of  the  governing  body. 
We  do  not  consider  an  officer's  proclamation  of  his  own 
virtue  a  sufficient  reason  for  setting  aside  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  or  even  the  acts  of  Congress.  We 
do  not  want  to  have  to  go  to  the  land  office  and  the 
office  of  the  forest  supervisor  every  morning  to  learn 
what  the  law  is. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Alps  of  Switzerland,  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  and  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  earth 
have  always  been  the  most  intensely  patriotic  and  liberty- 
loving  people,  and  the  citizens  of  the  West  now  are,  and 
the  succeeding  generations  will  be,  a  perpetual  exempli- 
fication of  this  rule.  We  are  two  thousand  miles  away, 
but  we  are  your  younger  brothers  still.    Do  not  impose 


138  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

upon  us  because  you  have  the  power  to  do  so.  Let  us 
develop  our  own  resources,  and  we  will  soon  become  a 
storehouse  of  wealth  to  this  nation. 

I  firmly  believe  there  is  not  a  state  in  this  Union  that 
has  one-half  the  variety  or  aggregate  amount  of  natural 
resources  that  is  found  within  the  Centennial  State.  We 
believe  our  climate  excels  that  of  all  the  other  states, 
in  proportion  as  we  exceed  them  in  altitude;  that  our 
soil  and  climate  and  mountain  streams  make  our  agri- 
cultural and  horticultural  resources  the  garden  spot  of 
this  nation.  At  this  very  moment  the  county  adjoining 
my  home  is  sending  twenty-five  carloads  of  apples  to 
London,  where  they  top  the  market  of  anything  that  has 
ever  been  known  in  this  country,  both  in  price  and  quality. 
Our  precious  metals  exceed  the  output  of  any  other  state 
in  the  Union.  Our  coal  and  our  water-power  are  suffi- 
cient to  run  an  empire  for  a  thousand  years.  Our  oil, 
gas,  and  asphaltum,  and  hundreds  of  other  resources 
make  us  the  coming  treasury  of  our  country.  Colorado 
is  the  brightest  jewel  set  in  the  crest  of  this  continent, 
where  she  shines  as  the  Kohinoor  of  all  the  gems  of  this 
Union. 


GIFFORD  PINCHOT  139 


NATURAL  RESOURCES  AND  SPECIAL 
INTERESTS 

GIFFORD  PINCHOT 
Former  Chief  Forester  of  the  United  States 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  University  Club,  New 
York  city,  December  27,  1909.) 

The  American  people  have  evidently  made  up  their 
minds  that  our  natural  resources  must  be  conserved. 
That  is  good,  but  it  settles  only  half  the  question.  For 
whose  benefit  shall  they  be  conserved  —  for  the  benefit  of 
the  many  or  for  the  use  and  profit  of  the  few?  The 
great  conflict  now  being  fought  will  decide.  There  is  no 
other  question  before  us  that  begins  to  be  so  important 
—  or  that  will  be  so  difficult  to  straddle  —  as  the  great 
question  between  special  interest  and  equal  opportunity, 
between  the  privileges  of  the  few  and  the  rights  of  the 
many,  between  government  by  men  for  human  welfare 
and  government  by  money  for  profit,  between  the  men 
who  stand  for  the  Roosevelt  policies  and  the  men  who 
stand  against  them.  This  is  the  essence  of  the  conserva- 
tion problem  to-day. 

The  conservation  issue  is  a  moral  issue.  When  a  few 
men  get  possession  of  one  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
either  through  ownership  of  a  natural  resource  or 
through  unfair  business  methods,  and  use  that  control 
to  extort  undue  profits,  as  in  the  recent  cases  of  the 
sugar  trust  and  the  beef  packers,  they  injure  the  aver- 
age man  without  good  reason,  and  they  are  guilty  of  a 
moral  wrong. 


140  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

I  believe  in  one  form  of  government,  and  I  believe  in 
the  Golden  Rule.  But  we  must  face  the  truth  that 
monopoly  of  the  sources  of  production  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  vast  numbers  of  men  and  women  to  earn  a  fair 
living.  Right  here  the  conservation  question  touches  the 
daily  life  of  the  great  body  of  our  people,  who  pay  the 
cost  of  especial  privilege.  And  the  price  is  heavy.  That 
price  may  be  the  chance  to  save  the  boys  from  the  saloons 
and  the  corner  gang  and  the  girls  from  worse,  and  to 
make  good  citizens  of  them  instead  of  bad;  for  an  appal- 
ling proportion  of  the  tragedies  of  life  spring  directly 
from  the  lack  of  a  little  money.  Thousands  of  daughters 
of  the  poor  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  "white-slave" 
traders  because  their  poverty  leaves  them  without  pro- 
tection. Thousands  of  families,  as  the  Pittsburg  survey 
has  shown  us,  lead  lives  of  brutalizing  overwork  in  return 
for  the  barest  living. 

The  people  of  this  country  have  lost  vastly  more 
than  they  can  ever  regain  by  gifts  of  public  property 
forever  and  without  charge  to  men  who  give  nothing 
in  return.  It  is  true  that  we  have  made  superb 
material  progress  under  this  system,  but  it  is  not  well 
for  us  to  rejoice  too  freely  in  the  slices  the  special 
interests  have  given  us  from  the  great  loaf  of  the  prop- 
erty of  all  the  people. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  been  the  com- 
placent victims  of  a  system  of  grab  often  perpetrated 
by  men  who  would  be  surprised  beyond  measure  to  be 
accused  of  wrongdoing,  and  many  of  whom  in  their  pri- 
vate lives  were  model  citizens.  But  they  have  suffered 
from  a  curious  moral  perversion  by  which  it  becomes 
praiseworthy  to  do  for  a  corporation  things  which  they 


JAMES  R.  GARFIELD  141 

would  refuse  with  the  loftiest  scorn  to  do  for  themselves. 
Fortunately  for  us,  all  the  delusion  is  passing  rapidly 
away. 


WATER-POWER  AND  THE   "INTERESTS" 

JAMES   R.    GARFIELD 
Former  Secretary  of  the  Interior 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Colorado  State  Conservation 
Commission,  at  Denver,  Colorado,  April  18,  1910.) 

The  private  interests  that  are  developing  and  using 
water  of  necessity  ignore  state  lines,  and  nothing  will  be 
more  acceptable  to  these  interests  than  to  have  the  Federal 
Government  withdraw  from  all  attempt  to  control  their 
transactions.  Again,  unless  the  Federal  Government 
retains  and  exercises  such  control,  the  interests  of  the 
people  of  one  state  may  be  seriously  jeopardized  by  the 
action  of  an  adjoining  state.  The  use  of  water  is  one 
of  the  immediate  and  most  important  of  all  conservation 
problems.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  have  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  conditions  and  the  pending  propo- 
sitions. During  the  last  ten  years  the  great  possibilities 
for  the  use  of  water  have  been  appreciated.  Everywhere 
private  interests  are  attempting  to  gain  control  of  van- 
tage points  for  development.  The  fight  is  on  in  nation 
and  states.  The  question  is  simply  this:  Shall  the  public 
control  and  regulate  the  use  of  water  in  accordance  with 
the  needs  of  the  public  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  public, 
or  shall  private  interests  own  and  control  the  use  of  water 


142  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

for  their  own  gain,  without  regard  to  the  rights  and  needs 
of  the  public?  It  is  certain  that  an  intolerable  water 
monopoly  will  be  fastened  upon  our  people  unless  the 
public  in  both  nation  and  states  asserts  its  authority  and 
controls  the  use  of  water. 

The  use  of  water  for  the  development  of  power,  for 
storage,  and  for  irrigation  means,  of  necessity,  exclusive 
use  in  particular  places,  and  such  exclusive  use  is  readily 
turned  into  oppressive  monopoly,  unless  regulated  by  the 
public.  It  is  not  enough  to  deny  that  a  water-power 
trust  exists  to-day.  All  the  elements  that  go  to  make 
up  such  a  trust  are  in  existence  and  the  tendency  toward 
such  centralization  grows  stronger  day  by  day.  The 
conservation  of  water  applies  in  all  its  uses.  There  are 
those  who  attack  conservation,  alleging  that  conservation 
means  non-use,  non-development,  but  no  such  proposi- 
tion has  been  put  forward  by  the  leaders  of  the  conserva- 
tion movement.  As  has  been  defined  over  and  over 
again,  it  means  the  wise  use  and  development  of  water 
for  domestic  purposes,  irrigation,  water-power,  and  navi- 
gation, in  accordance  with  the  needs  of  the  present  genera- 
tion, but  with  due  regard  for  the  future  and  under  control 
of  public  authority,  to  the  end  that  unregulated  monopoly 
may  be  prevented;  that  use  by  private  individuals  may 
be  limited  in  time  and  granted  under  conditions  which 
will  yield  to  the  public  a  fair  compensation  for  the  benefit 
derived,  and  finally  prevent  unjust  or  extortionate  pay- 
ment by  the  consuming  public. 

During  the  past  few  years,  both  nation  and  state 
have  been  attempting  to  deal  with  this  problem.  In 
many  minds  there  seems  to  be  a  necessary  conflict  between 
these  jurisdictions,  but  such  is  not  the  case.    There  are 


IRA  E.  ROBINSON  143 

duties  upon  both  nation  and  states.  There  is  work 
enough  for  all  and  there  is  a  common  ground  for  cooper- 
ative control  and  regulation. 

IN  WEST  VIRGINIA 

IRA  E.   ROBINSON 

Of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  of  West  Virginia 

(Extract  from  an  address  entitled,  "Four  Generations  between 
the  Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio,"  before  the  Robinson  Genealogical 
Society,  at  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  August  12,  1908.) 

In  the  year  1800  the  region  between  the  Alleghanies 
and  the  Ohio  was  practically  a  wilderness.  The  savage 
had  only  recently  departed,  and  the  wild  beast  remained. 
Settlements  were  sparse  in  that  territory,  and  were  con- 
fined mostly  to  the  great  streams  that  flowed  through 
dense  forests.  The  rich  valleys  of  the  Shenandoah  and 
the  Ohio  were  sought  by  many  home-makers,  but  the 
rough  country  between  was  passed  over  because  it  looked 
not  inviting.  Many  a  pioneer  crossed  that  territory  of 
magnificent  timber,  hidden  coal,  oil,  and  gas,  to  the 
better  looking  land  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.  He  reaped 
more  readily  for  himself,  but,  we  think,  not  for  his  pos- 
terity. The  mind  of  man  cannot  tell  true  worth  from  a 
view  of  the  surface.  "Man  looketh  on  the  outward 
appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart.'*  So 
this  wilderness  invited  only  the  strongest  and  bravest. 
Virginia  in  time  was  to  part  with  this  rugged  western 
domain  because  the  laws  and  manners  suited  to  the 
gentle  slopes  of  the  east  were  unsuited  to  the  hardiness 
and  stern  qualities  necessary  to  the  development  and 


144  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

growth  of  the  territory  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the 
Ohio.  Here  no  easy-going  mannerisms  found  home, 
because  of  the  very  character  of  the  soil.  The  line  of 
mountains  marked  off  to  the  west  a  new  and  different 
country.  It  was  a  country  that  of  itself  drew  to  it  a 
people  like  unto  it,  rich  within  and  yet  of  the  plainest 
clothing.  The  soil  was  rough  and  hardy,  and  it  was  to 
impart  to  those  on  it  the  same  characteristics.  Here 
the  dealings  with  stubborn  obstacles  disciplined  men. 
Here  like  begat  like,  and  lofty  mountains  produced 
lofty  minds.  Here  good  atmosphere  instilled  good 
blood,  regular  heart-throbs,  sound  bodies,  and  noble 
aspirations,  while  isolation  fostered  economy,  inde- 
pendence, and  contentment.  Thus  men  of  character 
arose,  and  such  men,  says  Emerson,  "are  the  conscience 
of  the  society  to  which  they  belong."  True,  there  was 
migration  from  them,  and  other  regions  were  thereby 
benefited,  but  the  great  body  remained.  And  here  by 
these  forces  was  founded  a  citizenship  fitted  for  the 
problems  of  the  development  and  use  of  the  great  natural 
resources  there  existing  —  fitted  for  the  advancement  of 
time.  In  the  very  nature  of  things  a  separate  govern- 
ment of  such  people  became  necessary  and  was  estab- 
lished. How  appropriate  its  motto :  Montani  semper  liberit 
Divinely  has  been  founded  and  left  to  us  the  freedom, 
happiness,  and  love  so  beautifully  penned  in  verse  by 
my  old  school  friend,  whose  inspirations  are  as  noble 
as  his  ancestry,  of  the  land  of  which  he  sings: 

"In  West  Virginia  skies  are  blue, 
The  hills  are  green  and  hearts  are  true  ; 
A  joyous  welcome  waiteth  you 
In  West  Virginia. 


CLIFTON  W.  BRANSFORD  145 

'In  West  Virginia  skies  are  bright, 
The  twinkling  stars  make  glad  the  night; 
And  noble  hearts  uphold  the  right 
In  West  Virginia. 

'In  West  Virginia  man  is  free; 
He  dwells  beneath  his  own  roof-tree ; 
Oh,  come,  my  love,  and  dwell  with  me 
In  West  Virginia." 


VIRGINIA 

CLIFTON  W.   BRANSFORD 
President  of  the  Owensboro  (Kentucky)  Banking  Company 

(Response  on  behalf  of  the  American  Bankers  Association  to  the 
hospitality  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  1900.) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  the  absence  of  one  more 
worthy  to  perform  the  pleasing  duty,  I  am  requested, 
on  behalf  of  the  American  Bankers  Association,  to 
thank  the  citizens  of  Richmond  for  their  magnificent 
hospitality.  I  hardly  know  what  language  to  employ 
to  give  fitting  expression  to  our  gratitude;  but  the  man 
who  could  not  draw  inspiration  from  this  occasion  and 
its  environments  were  dead  to  all  the  nobler  emotions  of 
his  nature.  Born  and  reared  on  Kentucky  soil,  trusted 
and  honored  by  her  people  beyond  my  deserts,  her  interest 
and  welfare  are  dearer  to  my  heart  than  the  ruddy  drops 
that  give  it  life.  But  while  I  entertain  these  sentiments 
of  affection  for  my  native  state,  I  love  her  old  mother, 
Virginia,  the  home  of  my  ancestors,  not  less  ardently  and 
well.    Virginia!    Where  first  was  rocked  the  cradle  of 


146  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

independent  thought  and  of  religious  and  political  free- 
dom. Virginia!  The  birthplace  of  Patrick  Henry,  the 
matchless  orator,  whose  eloquence  stirred  men's  souls 
and  lighted  the  fires  of  universal  liberty.  Virginia!  The 
home  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  incomparable  statesman, 
who  penned  that  immortal  document,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  which  declares  that  "all  men  are  born 
free  and  equal  and  are  entitled  to  enjoy  the  inalienable 
rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
Virginia!  The  state  that  gave  to  the  world  George 
Washington,  the  Father  of  his  Country,  who  led  to  vic- 
tory an  army  of  patriots  rebelling  against  the  despotism 
of  their  own  government. 

0  Virginia!  If  all  the  children  named  in  thy  honor 
could  join  in  one  loud  hosanna  of  thy  just  meed  of  praise, 
the  thunders  of  its  refrain  would  be  repeated  on  the 
eternal  shores. 

1  thank  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  your  attention, 
and  propose  three  cheers  for  Mr.  Traylor,  the  city  of 
Richmond,  and  the  grand  Old  Dominion. 


UTAH 

WILLIAM  SPRY 

Governor  of  Utah 

(Extract  from  an  address  of  welcome  at  the  opening  of  the  G.A.R. 
national  encampment,  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  August,  1909.) 

The  past  few  years  have  witnessed  a  decided  westward 
movement  of  the  point  designating  the  center  of  popula- 


WILLIAM  SPRY  147 

tion  in  the  United  States.  And  still  that  point  is  far 
east  of  Utah.  The  van  of  restless  humanity  sweeps 
westward  persistently;  and  the  Pacific  states  vie  with 
each  other  in  spirited  efforts  to  attract  the  home-seeker. 

Perhaps  of  all  the  far  western  states  and  territories, 
none  has  been  so  frequently  foisted,  an  unwilling  object, 
into  the  public  attention  as  Utah.  Unquestionably,  no 
state  in  the  Union  has  been  so  often  the  victim  of  public 
censure  and  bad  repute,  because  of  gross  misrepresenta- 
tion and  prejudice,  hatched  and  scattered  broadcast,  by 
ambitious,  selfish  individuals  whose  motives  are  not 
above  censure.  As  a  result,  Utah's  population  has  not 
increased  with  that  rapidity  which  her  boundless  oppor- 
tunities warrant.  Her  limitless  resources  have  lain  prac- 
tically untouched  by  the  hand  of  the  developer.  But 
the  confident,  determined  few,  unswerving,  undismayed, 
have  plodded  on,  holding  fast  to  their  faith  in  Utah. 
That  faith  was  well  placed  and  those  efforts  well  spent; 
and  Utah,  by  the  right  and  strength  of  her  own  worth, 
has  forced  herself  to  a  position  of  eminence  among  the 
states  of  the  Union,  rich  in  possibility,  and  attractive  in 
resource. 

We  invite  you  to  avail  yourselves  of  this  occasion  to 
make  a  close  inquiry  into  the  representations  which  we 
advance  regarding  our  state.  We  direct  your  attention 
to  her  agricultural  resources  —  her  farms  and  fields  of 
waving  grain  —  her  soil,  appropriated  to  the  cultivation 
of  vegetables  and  flowers  —  her  orchards,  laden  with  a 
wide  variety  of  luscious  fruit  that  brings  a  premium  in 
the  world's  markets.  We  urge  you  to  direct  an  enquir- 
ing eye  over  our  ranges  and  mark  the  sleek  cattle;  note 
the  millions  of  sheep  that  play  an  important  part  in  the 
country's  wool  production. 


148  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Investigate  our  mining  operations  and  be  convinced 
that  within  the  boundaries  of  the  state  of  Utah  is  one 
of  nature's  richest  treasure  vaults  plentifully  stored  with 
the  precious  minerals  of  the  earth. 

Allow  yourselves  to  be  moved  by  the  grandeur  of  our 
snow-capped  mountains,  the  beauty  of  our  valleys,  the 
mystery  of  our  great  dead  sea,  the  color  of  our  skies. 
Drink  the  breath  of  rejuvenation  that  comes  with  our 
cool  mountain  breezes. 

Crowning  Utah's  achievements,  paving  the  way  for 
future  generations  of  broad-minded,  intelligent  citizens, 
is  her  educational  system.  If  you  carry  no  other  fact 
away  with  you,  write  on  the  tablets  of  your  memory 
that  during  the  school  year  just  closed,  the  state  of 
Utah  expended  in  the  grammar  grades  alone  for  every 
day  the  schools  were  open  over  thirteen  thousand  dollars 
for  an  estimated  common  school  population  of  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand. 

Meet,  mingle  with,  and  know  our  people  in  their  busi- 
ness and  in  their  homes.  Judge  them  by  the  only  true 
test  of  American  citizenship  —  ability  and  fidelity  —  and 
we  shall  be  more  than  friends. 


WILLIAM  O.  BRADLEY  149 


"OLD  KENTUCKY  HOME" 

WILLIAM  O.   BRADLEY 
United  States  Senator  from  Kentucky 

(Condensed  from  his  speech  delivered  at  the  formal  dedication 
of  the  Kentucky  building  at  the  Columbian  Exposition,  Chicago, 
June  1,  1893.) 

Into  this  splendid  presence  we  come  to  dedicate  the 
"Old  Kentucky  Home." 

This  day,  with  her  sister  states,  Kentucky  joins  in 
freedom's  swelling  chorus  as  it  sweeps  from  sea  to  sea. 
With  them  she  extends,  in  hospitality,  a  hand  that  never 
struck  defenseless  foe  and  never  knew  dishonor.  God 
bless  Kentucky!  We  would  not  part  with  one  atom  of 
her  soil  or  one  line  of  her  history.  Would  that  I  might 
weave  a  fitting  garland  for  her  brow.  Would  that  I 
possessed  the  brush  and  genius  of  Raphael,  that  I  might 
paint  her  as  she  is.  Would  that  with  the  chisel  of  Phidias 
I  might  create  anew  the  forms  and  features  of  her  glorious 
sons.  Would  that  with  the  descriptive  power  and  vivid 
imagery  of  Byron  I  might  portray  the  lives  and  actions 
of  her  heroes  and  statesmen.  Would  that  I  were  gifted 
with  the  sublime  and  soaring  melody  of  Milton,  that  I 
might  charm  the  world  with  the  song  of  her  glory.  But 
even  then,  I  should  be  unable  to  reproduce  the  verdure 
of  her  fields,  the  grandeur  of  her  mountains,  the  bright- 
ness of  her  skies,  the  heroism  of  her  people,  the  wisdom 
of  her  statesmen,  and  the  beauty  of  her  women — God 
bless  them  —  "the  fairest  that  e'er  the  sun  shone  on." 

One  hundred  and  one  years  ago  this  day,  Kentucky 


150  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

was  admitted  into  the  Union.  She  was  among  the  first 
to  enter,  and  will  be  the  last  to  leave  it.  Her  history  has 
been  eventful.  The  trials,  endurance,  and  heroism  of 
pioneer  life  were  never  more  fully  exemplified  elsewhere. 
Harrod,  Boone,  Kenton,  Clark,  McAfee,  Whitley,  and 
Logan  are  names  blended  with  hers  as  the  warp  is  blended 
with  the  woof.  They  hewed  their  way  through  forests 
primeval,  and  drove  the  savage  beyond  her  borders. 
After  them  came  the  pioneer  statesman,  Marshall,  Bul- 
litt, Nicholas,  Brown,  Breckinridge,  and  Clay.  The 
sons  of  these  knight  errants  of  civilization  inherited 
the  endurance,  bravery,  and  ability  of  their  sires.  No 
wonder,  then,  it  is  that  the  name  of  Kentucky  is  famous 
throughout  the  world. 


WASHINGTON  AND  LINCOLN 

MARTIN  W.   LITTLETON 
Formerly  of  the  Dallas,  Texas,  Bar;  now  of  New  York  city 

(Extract  from  an  address  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of 
Washington's  Birthday  by  the  Ellicott  Club  of  Buffalo,  New  York, 
February  22,  1906.) 

The  strongest  thing  about  the  character  of  the  two 
greatest  men  in  American  history  is  the  fact  that  they 
did  not  surrender  to  the  passion  of  the  time.  Washington 
withstood  the  French  radicalism  of  Jefferson  and  the 
British  conservatism  of  Hamilton.  He  invited  each  of 
them  into  his  cabinet;  he  refused  to  allow  either  of  them 
to  dictate  his  policy.    His  enemies  could  not  terrify  him 


MARTIN  W.  LITTLETON  151 

by  assault;  his  friends  could  not  deceive  him  with  flattery. 
In  this  respect  he  resembled  in  marked  degree  the  splendid 
character  of  Lincoln. 

The  single  light  that  led  Lincoln's  feet  along  the  hard 
highway  of  life  was  justice;  the  single  thought  that 
throbbed  his  brain  to  sleep  at  night  was  justice;  the 
single  prayer  that  put  in  whispered  words  the  might  and 
meaning  of  his  soul  was  justice;  the  single  impulse  that 
lingered  in  a  heart  already  wrung  by  a  nation's  grief  was 
justice;  in  every  word  that  fell  from  him  in  touching 
speech  there  was  the  sad  and  sober  spirit  of  justice.  He 
sat  upon  the  storm  when  the  nation  shook  with  passion. 
Treason,  wrong,  injustice,  crime,  graft,  a  thousand  wrongs 
in  system  and  in  single  added  to  the  burden  of  this  melan- 
choly spirit.  Silently,  as  the  soul  of  the  just  makes  war 
on  sin;  silently,  as  the  spirit  of  the  mighty  withstand*, the 
spite  of  wrong;  silently,  as  the  heart  of  the  truly  brave 
resists  the  assault  of  the  coward,  this  prince  of  patience 
and  peace  endured  the  calumny  of  the  country  he  died 
to  save. 

Lincoln  blazed  the  way  from  the  cabin  to  the  crown; 
working  away  in  the  silence  of  the  woods,  he  heard  the 
murmur  of  a  storm;  toiling  in  the  forest  of  flashing  leaf 
and  armored  oak,  he  heard  Lexington  calling  unto  Sum- 
ter, Valley  Forge  crying  unto  Gettysburg,  and  Yorktown 
shouting  unto  Appomattox.  Lingering  before  the  dying 
fires  in  a  humble  hut,  he  saw  with  sorrowful  heart  the 
blazing  camps  in  Virginia,  and  felt  the  awful  stillness  of 
slumbering  armies.  Beneath  it  all  he  saw  the  strained 
muscles  of  the  slave,  the  broken  spirit  of  the  serf,  the 
bondage  of  immortal  souls;  and  beycnd  it  all,  looking 
through  the  tears  that  broke  from  a  breaking  heart,  he 


152  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

saw  the  widow  by  the  empty  chair,  the  aged  father's 
fruitless  vigil  at  the  gate,  the  daughter's  dreary  watch 
beside  the  door,  and  the  son's  solemn  step  from  boyhood 
to  old  age.  And  behind  this  picture  he  saw  the  lonely 
family  altar  upon  which  was  offered  the  incense  of  tears 
coming  from  millions  of  broken  hearts;  and  looking  still 
beyond  he  saw  the  battle-fields  where  silent  slabs  told  of 
the  death  of  those  who  died  in  deathless  valor.  He  saw 
the  desolated  earth,  where  golden  grain  no  more  broke 
from  the  rich,  resourceful  soil,  where  the  bannered  wheat 
no  longer  rose  from  the  productive  earth;  he  saw  the 
South  with  its  smoking  chimneys,  its  deserted  hearth- 
stones, its  maimed  and  wounded  trudging  with  bowed 
heads  and  bent  forms  back  to  their  homes,  there  to  want 
and  to  waste  and  to  struggle  and  to  build  up  again;  he 
saw  the  North  recover  itself  from  the  awful  shock  of  arms 
and  start  anew  to  unite  the  arteries  of  commerce  that 
had  been  cut  by  the  cruel  sword  of  war.  And  with  his 
gentle  hand,  and  as  a  last  act  of  his  sacrificial  life,  he 
dashed  the  awful  cup  of  brother's  blood  from  the  lustful 
lip  of  war  and  shattered  the  cannons'  roar  into  nameless 
notes  of  song. 

Then  turn  to  the  vision  of  Washington  leaving  a  planta- 
tion of  peace  and  plenty  to  suffer  on  the  blood-stained 
battle-field,  surrendering  the  dominion  over  the  princely 
domain  of  a  Virginia  gentleman  to  accept  the  privations 
of  an  unequal  war  —  the  vision  of  patriotism  over  against 
the  vision  of  greed. 

Oh,  my  friends,  we  must  live  so  that  the  spirit  of  these 
men  shall  settle  all  about  our  lives  and  deeds;  so  that 
the  patriotism  of  their  service  shall  burn  as  a  fire  in  the 
hearts  of  all  who  shall  follow  them.    The  Constitution 


RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER  153 

which  came  from  one,  the  universal  liberty  which  came 
from  the  other,  must  be  set  in  our  hearts  as  institutions 
in  the  blood  of  our  race,  so  that  this  Government  shall 
not  perish  until  every  drop  of  that  blood  has  been  shed  in 
its  defense;  and  we  shall  behold  the  flag  of  our  country 
as  the  beautiful  emblem  of  their  unselfish  lives,  whose 
red  ran  out  of  a  soldier's  heart,  whose  white  was  bleached 
by  a  nation's  tears,  whose  stars  were  hung  there  to  sing 
together  until  the  eternal  morning  when  all  the  world 
shall  be  free. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  LINCOLN 

RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER 

Late  Editor  of  the  "Century  Magazine" 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  students  of  Mount  Holyoke 
College,  June,  1909.) 

What  a  wonderful  thing  is  personality!  Think  of  all 
it  means  in  history,  in  religion,  in  our  own  lives.  Lin- 
coln is  one  of  the  most  interesting  personalities  in  all 
history.  This  personality  has  perplexed  many  people. 
Some  are  doubtful  if  Lincoln  is  as  great  as  many  say. 
But  the  more  he  is  studied  the  firmer  is  his  position. 

Probably  no  great  historical  figure  in  the  realm  of 
action  ever  had  Lincoln's  intense  humorousness,  com- 
bined with  so  keen  and  racy  a  wit.  He  was  undoubtedly 
the  greatest  wit  and  humorist  that  ever  ruled  a  nation. 
He  was  a  sad  man,  a  man  who  suffered,  a  man  who  was 
sometimes  melancholy.     But  humor  helped  him  to  live. 


154  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Humor  helped  Lincoln  in  his  leadership.  His  power  of 
expression  also  helped  him  in  his  leadership.  There  may 
be  found  in  all  his  great  utterances  a  strain  which  is  like 
the  leading  motive,  a  strain  of  mingled  pathos  and  hero- 
ism. This  is  shown  in  the  Gettysburg  address  and  in 
the  letter  to  Congress.  Lincoln's  task  was  a  great  one, 
—  a  task  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea.  On  the 
one  side  were  the  border  states,  telling  him  that  if  he 
touched  slavery  they  could  not  keep  their  constituencies 
on  the  side  of  the  Union;  on  the  other  side  were  the  Abo- 
litionists, telling  him  that  unless  he  at  once  freed  the 
slaves,  his  administration  would  be  shorn  of  moral  sup- 
port and  the  war  would  end  in  failure  and  disgrace.  His 
delay  in  getting  out  the  emancipation  proclamation  was 
necessary  to  statesmanship. 

That  inordinately  tall  countryman,  with  a  shawl  thrown 
over  his  gaunt  figure,  crossing  alone  the  little  park  between 
the  White  House  and  the  War  Department,  if  appealed  to 
by  some  distressed  private  soldier  or  citizen,  could  order 
justice  done  by  a  written  sentence  as  surely  as  could  any 
Asiatic  autocrat  by  issued  edict.  While  often  yielding 
to  the  dictates  of  his  pitying  heart  in  individual  cases, 
and  showing  constantly  almost  abnormal  patience,  those 
who  mistook  his  charity  for  weakness  were  liable  to  sudden 
enlightenment.  The  fact  was  only  lately  published  that 
Colonel  Hay  once  saw  the  long-enduring  Lincoln  take 
an  officer  by  the  coat  collar,  carry  him  bodily  to  the  door, 
and  throw  him  in  a  helpless  heap  outside. 

Let  me  close  with  the  memory  of  a  night  of  the  spring 
of  the  year  1865,  in  the  time  of  the  blooming  of  lilacs, 
as  says  the  wonderful  poem.  I  was  waiting  in  Philadel- 
phia for  Lincoln's  funeral  train  to  start,  as  it  was  my 


JOSEPH  G.  CANNON  155 

duty  to  accompany  it  to  Newark.  I  had  and  have  little 
desire  to  look  upon  faces  from  which  the  light  of  life  is 
departed,  but  suddenly  it  came  upon  me  that  I  had  never 
seen  the  great  President  and  must  not  let  go  by  this 
last  opportunity  to  behold  at  least  the  deserted  temple 
of  a  lofty  soul.  To  my  grief,  I  found  it  was  too  late; 
the  police  had  drawn  their  line  across  the  front  of  Inde- 
pendence Hall.  But  my  earnest  desire  prevailed,  and 
I  was  the  last  to  pass  in  by  the  window  and  behold, 
lying  on  the  very  spot  where  he  had  dedicated  himself 
to  assassination  rather  than  desert  the  principles  of  the 
fathers,  there  emulated,  in  a  sudden  dazzle  of  lights  and 
flowers,  the  still  features  of  that  face  we  all  now  know 
so  well. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

JOSEPH  G.   CANNON 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  February  12,  1910.) 

In  the  year  1858  I  heard  two  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
debates.  It  was  a  wonderful  contest  —  between  giants. 
Douglas,  born  in  Vermont,  a  great  politician,  of  national 
and  world-wide  reputation,  was  remarkably  strong  and 
resourceful.  In  point  of  fact  his  heart  beat  true  to  human 
freedom,  but  as  he  was  a  member  of  that  great  party 
that  was  dominated  by  servile  labor,  his  ambition  created 
the  desire  to  be  President.    The  contest  was  fought  out. 


156  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Lincoln  failed  to  reach  the  Senate,  but  the  whole  country 
was  aflame,  and  at  the  end  of  those  great  debates  he 
had  a  national  if  not  a  world-wide  reputation. 

Then  came  the  Cooper  Union  speech.  Then  came  the 
campaign  in  Ohio  in  1859,  and,  when  i860  came,  Illinois 
concluded  to  present  him  as  her  candidate  for  the  nomina- 
tion for  the  presidency. 

The  convention  was  held  at  Decatur,  Illinois,  in  a 
structure  erected  between  two  brick  buildings,  with  posts 
cut  from  the  forest,  stringers  cut  from  the  forest,  and 
covered  with  boughs  cut  from  the  forest,  and  the  ends 
open.  The  multiplied  thousands  gathered  —  earnest, 
determined  men.  Just  about  the  time  the  convention 
was  organized,  a  voice  came,  "  Make  way  for  Dick  Oglesby 
and  John  Hanks."  After  much  effort  a  narrow  passage 
was  made,  and  they  passed  through  it,  bearing  two  old 
walnut  rails.  They  were  set  up,  and  there  was  a  legend 
on  a  strip  of  cotton,  "These  two  rails  were  made  by 
John  Hanks  and  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1830."  There  was 
great  enthusiasm.  The  crowd  closed  up,  and  the  cry 
came  for  Lincoln.  He  could  not  get  through;  and  great, 
tall,  gaunt  man  as  he  was,  they  literally  picked  him  up 
and  passed  him  over  their  heads.  He  did  not  talk  much. 
Somebody  asked  him,  an  hour  before,  if  it  was  proper  for 
him  to  be  there,  as  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency; 
and  a  queer  expression  came  over  his  face,  and  he  said, 
"The  truth  is,  I  am  most  too  much  of  a  candidate  to  be 
here,  but  hardly  enough  to  stay  away." 

The  audience  were  wild  with  enthusiasm.  He  talked 
a  little,  not  to  exceed  five  minutes.  Somebody  sang  out, 
"Abe,  did  you  make  those  rails?"  His  reply  came: 
"John  Hanks  says  we  made  those  rails.     I  do  not  know 


JOSEPH  G.  CANNON  157 

whether  we  did  or  not,  but  I  have  made  many  better 
ones  than  those." 

The  Seward  people  in  that  convention  were  swept  off 
their  feet,  and  a  delegation  unanimously  chosen  by  that 
convention,  consisting  of  the  personal  and  political  friends 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  went  to  the  convention  held  in  the 
wigwam  a  week  or  two  later  at  Chicago.  You  all  know 
the  result. 

The  emancipation  proclamation  was  given  to  the  world 
in  September,  1862.  That  proclamation  had  been  written 
for  three  months,  and  Lincoln,  with  his  great  desire  to 
save  the  republic,  with  his  great  knowledge,  with  his 
great  courage,  was  waiting,  waiting,  waiting  until  the 
boys  in  blue  might  gain  a  victory  or  two;  waiting  until 
their  letters  should  come  from  the  southland,  where  they 
were  fighting  the  battles  of  the  republic,  to  their  brothers 
and  parents  and  friends,  that  they  might  also  make 
converts;  waiting  for  the  people  to  rise  up  and  sing 
against  the  opposition  of  the  sensational  press  and  the 
cowardly  would-be  leaders;  waiting  for  them  to  sing, 
"We're  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thou- 
sand more." 

And  all  the  while,  with  all  the  abuse,  with  the  quarrels 
in  the  Cabinet,  with  the  premier  suggesting  that  the 
conduct  of  the  war  had  better  be  left  to  him;  with  the 
failures  of  generals;  with  the  universal  criticism  of  gen- 
erals, of  colonels,  and  even  of  captains;  with  the  false 
reports  that  were  sent  by  wire  and  correspondence;  with 
doubt  and  fear;  with  the  credit  of  the  republic  disap- 
pearing, this  tall,  gaunt,  sad-faced  man,  born  of  the 
children  of  toil,  kept  his  courage.  To  me  there  is  no 
greater  example  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  of 


158  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

magnificent    leadership    and    patriotism    than    that    of 
Abraham  Lincoln  during  that  contest. 

George  William  Curtis  in  notifying  Lincoln  of  his 
second  nomination  said: 

Amid  the  bitter  taunts  of  eager  friends  and  the  fierce  denun- 
ciation of  enemies,  now  moving  too  fast  for  some,  now  too  slow 
for  others,  they  have  seen  you  throughout  this  tremendous  contest 
patient,  sagacious,  faithful,  just,  leaning  upon  the  heart  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  and  satisfied  to  be  moved  by  its  mighty 
pulsations. 

In  that  one  sentence  Mr.  Curtis  expressed  the  great 
qualities  of  Lincoln  and  the  secret  of  his  success  as  a 
leader  of  the  American  people. 

Moses  was  a  great  character.  He  led  his  people  over 
the  desert  for  forty  years  to  the  promised  land;  but,  in 
my  judgment,  speaking  respectfully,  I  believe  that  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  was  the  greatest  leader  that  this  world  ever 
produced,  and  in  that  great  struggle  for  a  government  of 
the  people,  and  for  free  men  and  freedom,  he  laid  a  founda- 
tion upon  which  I  trust  and  believe  the  republic  will 
endure  through  the  ages. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

FRANK  W.   BENSON 
Governor  of  Oregon 

(Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  Lincoln  Day  banquet 
of  the  Republican  Club  of  Baker  City,  Oregon,  February  12,  1910.) 

We  had  elected  many  wise,  capable,  and  patriotic  men 
to  the  high  office  of  chief  ruler  long  before  Lincoln  was 


FRANK  W.  BENSON  159 

born.  We  had  made  a  large  and  important  part  of  our 
national  history  before  he  had  learned  to  read  by  the 
light  of  a  pine  torch.  But  not  one  of  his  predecessors, 
or  of  those  who  have  succeeded  him  in  that  high  office, 
has  ever  called  forth  the  intense  affection  of  the  people 
as  did  Lincoln.     And  why  ? 

I  fancy  that  it  was  because  he  was  the  second  instance 
in  the  world's  history  of  a  "man  of  sorrows";  "he  was 
touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  It  is  written 
not  only  in  the  world's  written  histories,  but  in  the  mul- 
titude of  portraits  which  are  scattered  broadcast  among 
the  millions  who  still  love  him,  that  in  the  expression  of 
his  countenance  there  was  the  infinite  sadness  that 
bespoke  the  tragedy  of  a  nation's  anguish.  It  is  said 
that  in  the  throes  of  the  nation's  peril  he  was  praying 
to  his  mother's  God  to  save  his  people. 

The  things  upon  which  we  dwell  with  most  delight 
to-day  are  the  stories  of  his  tenderness  and  infinite  kind- 
ness which  prompted  him  to  pardon  the  boy  soldier, 
condemned  to  death,  who  slept  at  his  post  in  the  hour 
of  danger;  his  sorrow  for  the  trooper  who  languished  in 
the  prison  pen  of  the  South;  the  entire  absence  in  his 
voice  and  heart  of  any  malice  against  those  who  were 
fighting  the  battle  of  disloyalty.  In  other  words,  while 
other  men,  influenced  by  pride,  vanity,  or  a  false  con- 
ception of  the  nation's  ideal,  and  misled  by  the  false 
notion  that  the  nation's  idol  must  be  free  from  the  com- 
mon hopes  and  fears,  the  common  like  and  dislikes,  the 
common  hates  and  loves,  concealed  these  features  in 
their  make-up,  Lincoln  never  tried  to  be  other  than  him- 
self; there  was  no  concealment,  no  hypocrisy  in  his 
nature,  and,  because  he  was,  at  all  times,  entirely  free 


160  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

from  hypocrisy  and  pretense,  because  he  was  at  all  times 
true  to  the  characteristics  and  the  nature  which  God  had 
given  him,  his  humanity,  free  from  the  artificial,  appeals 
to  us  all. 

Finally,  it  occurs  to  me  that  the  memory  and  greatness 
of  Lincoln  are  more  sacredly  cherished  and  more  fully 
appreciated  in  the  extreme  West  than  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  United  States.  And  it  is  natural  that  it 
should  be  so.  The  type  of  American  manhood  which 
could  lay  aside  the  comforts,  the  assuredness,  and  the 
luxuries  of  the  long-settled  and  fully  developed  homes 
of  the  East,  in  order  that  they  might  pierce  the  forests 
and  fathom  the  mysteries  of  the  unexplored  West,  the 
type  to  which  Lincoln  belonged,  was  primal  in  its  instincts; 
was  naturally  indifferent  to  the  conventionalities  and 
niceties  of  an  artificial  civilization.  These  traits  have 
been,  in  a  measure,  transmitted  by  the  builders  of  the 
Western  Empire  to  their  offspring,  and  hence  the  West 
comprehends  and  appreciates  the  primal  virility,  the 
largeness  of  view,  and  the  splendid  contempt  of  trifles 
which  seemed  to  actuate  our  greatest  President,  and 
hence  to  us  he  stands  for  more  that  is  admirable  and 
lovable  to  us  than  can  be  possible  to  the  dwellers  in 
the  East;  not  because  he  was  born  in  a  log  cabin  in  the 
wilderness,  not  that  he  split  rails  in  the  forest,  not  that 
he  was  a  frontiersman,  but  rather  that  his  inheritance 
and  environment  were  such  that  he  was  particularly 
one  of  us,  and  we,  better  than  any  others,  comprehend 
and  appreciate  the  splendor  of  his  achievements. 


HOKE  SMITH  161 


TRIBUTE  TO  McKINLEY 

HOKE  SMITH 
Governor  of  Georgia 

(An  address  delivered  at  the  memorial  services  in  honor  of  Presi- 
dent McKinley,  held  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  September  19,  1901.) 

Fellow  citizens:  We  mourn  a  dead  President.  We  give 
thanks  for  a  Christian  life. 

Mr.  McKinley  rose  from  simple  walks  through  many 
public  trusts  to  the  highest  office.  His  record  will  stand 
severest  scrutiny.  It  shines  with  the  noblest  of  human 
traits.  He  loved  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature  his 
God,  his  country,  and  his  fellowman. 

We  of  this  section  owe  him  a  special  debt.  It  needed 
not  Cardenas  and  Santiago  to  remove  all  bitterness  from 
the  Southern  heart.  We  had  been  home  in  our  father's 
house  for  thirty  years,  and  we  loved  all  its  inmates;  but 
we  needed  the  great  brain  and  warm  heart  and  fervent 
words  of  this  loyal  lover  of  all  states  to  free  every  thought 
of  criticism,  to  show  the  American  people  the  patriotism 
of  their  brethren. 

His  public  services  have  been  great;  his  private  services 
not  less  so. 

In  the  home  life  must  be  preserved  the  safeguard  of 
our  country's  future.  What  an  example  he  has  set! 
What  a  standard  he  has  raised!  How  thoughtful,  how 
pure,  how  tender,  as  he  fell  back  with  the  very  wound 
that  slew  him,  asking  that  the  news  be  not  exaggerated 
to  the  partner  of  his  trials  and  his  joys! 

He  had  lived  the  life  of  an  earnest  professor  of  faith  in 


162  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Jesus  Christ.  The  highest  honors  could  not  shake  his 
faith  or. move  his  trust  or  hopes.  To  his  fellowmen  he 
did  his  greatest  service  as  he  died.  The  foremost  of 
earthly  rulers,  he  yielded  without  a  murmur  to  the  Heav- 
enly Ruler.  From  his  lofty  elevation,  from  the  office 
of  Chief  Magistrate  over  eighty  million  people,  his 
answer  to  the  call  was,  "It  is  God's  way;  His  will,  not 
ours,  be  done,"  and  then  with  his  last  breath  he  sang, 
"Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee." 

It  was  his  last  message  to  the  American  people  and  to 
the  civilized  world,  and  it  will  be  repeated  and  heard 
and  known  for  years  and  years  to  come — his  greatest 
message,  his  greatest  service  to  his  fellowmen,  his  country, 
and  his  God. 

He  has  given  up  the  corruptible  to  put  on  incorruption. 
He  has  given  up  the  mortal  to  put  on  immortality,  and 
that  which  was  written  has  been  brought  to  pass  —  death 
is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  Thanks  be  to  God,  death 
had  for  him  no  sting,  and  even  the  grave  was  to  him  a 
victory. 


EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

CHARLES   E.   FENNER 
Of  the  New  Orleans  Bar 

(Extract  from  an  oration  delivered  at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue 
of  General  Lee,  at  Lee  Circle,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  February 
22,  1884.) 

Bountiful  nature  had  endowed  Robert  E.  Lee  with 
exceptional  gifts  of  physical  beauty.    The  eye  of  the 


CHARLES  E.  FENNER  163 

South  Carolina  poet,  Hayne,  once  rested  upon  him  in 
the  first  year  of  the  war,  when  he  was  already  on  the 
hither  verge  of  middle  age,  as  he  stood  in  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Charleston,  surrounded  by  officers,  and  he  has 
left  the  following  pen  picture  of  him:  "In  the  middle  of  the 
group,  topping  the  tallest  by  half  a  head,  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  striking  figure  we  had  ever  encountered,  the 
figure  of  a  man  seemingly  about  fifty-six  or  fifty-eight 
years  of  age,  erect  as  a  poplar,  yet  lithe  and  graceful, 
with  broad  shoulders  well  thrown  back,  a  fine,  justly 
proportioned  head  posed  in  unconscious  dignity,  clear, 
deep,  thoughtful  eyes,  and  the  quiet,  dauntless  step  of 
one  every  inch  the  gentleman  and  soldier.  Had  some 
old  English  cathedral  crypt  or  monumental  stone  in 
Westminster  Abbey  been  smitten  by  a  magician's  wand 
and  made  to  yield  up  its  knightly  tenant  restored  to  his 
manly  vigor,  with  chivalric  soul  beaming  from  every 
feature,  some  grand  old  crusader  or  Red  Cross  warrior, 
who,  believing  in  a  sacred  creed  and  espousing  a  glorious 
principle,  looked  upon  mere  life  as  nothing  in  the  com- 
parison, we  thought  that  thus  would  he  have  appeared, 
unchanged  in  aught  but  costume  and  surroundings.  And 
the  superb  soldier,  the  glamour  of  the  antique  days  about 
him,  was  Robert  E.  Lee." 

If  such  was  the  Lee  of  fifty-six  years,  what  must  have 
been  the  splendid  beauty  of  his  youth?  The  priceless 
jewel  of  his  soul  found  fit  setting  in  this  grand  physique, 
marked  by  a  majestic  bearing  and  easy  grace  and  cour- 
tesy of  gesture  and  movement,  sprung  from  perfect 
harmony  and  symmetry  of  limb  and  muscle,  instinct 
with  that  vigorous  health,  the  product  of  a  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body. 


164  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Such  was  the  magnificent  youth  who  graduated  from 
West  Point  with  the  honors  of  his  class,  and  dedicated 
himself  to  the  service  of  his  country.  It  was  easy  to 
see  that  "Fate  reserved  him  for  a  bright  manhood.' ' 
Not  his  the  task,  by  the  eccentric  flight  of  a  soaring  ambi- 
tion, to  "pluck  bright  Honor  from  the  pale-faced  moon," 
or  with  desperate  greed  to  "dive  into  the  bottom  of  the 
deep  and  drag  up  drowned  Honor  by  the  locks."  This 
great  engineer  laid  out  the  road  of  his  life  along  the 
undeviating  line  of  duty,  prepared  to  bridge  seas  and 
scale  mountains;  to  defy  foes  and  to  scorn  temptations; 
to  struggle,  to  fight,  to  die,  if  need  be,  but  never  to  swerve 
from  his  chosen  path.  Honor  and  Fame  were  not  cap- 
tives in  his  train.  Free  and  bounteous,  they  ambuscaded 
his  way  and  crowned  him  as  he  passed. 

It  is  fitting  that  monuments  should  be  erected  to  such 
a  man. 

The  imagination  might,  alas!  too  easily,  picture  a 
crisis,  in  the  future  of  the  republic,  when  virtue  might 
have  lost  her  seat  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  when  the 
degrading  greed  of  money-getting  might  have  under- 
mined the  nobler  aspirations  of  their  souls,  when  luxury 
and  effeminacy  might  have  emasculated  the  rugged 
courage  and  endurance  upon  which  the  safety  of  states 
depends,  when  corruption  might  thrive  and  liberty  might 
languish,  when  pelf  might  stand  above  patriotism,  self 
above  country,  mammon  before  God,  and  when  the 
patriot  might  read  on  every  hand  the  sure  presage: 
"111  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay!" 

In  such  an  hour  let  some  inspired  orator,  alive  to  the 
peril  of  his  country,  summon  the  people  to  gather  round 


THOMAS  J.  KERNAN  165 

this  monument,  and,  pointing  to  that  noble  figure,  let 
him  recount  his  story,  and  if  aught  can  arouse  a  noble 
shame  and  awaken  dormant  virtue,  that  may  do  it. 

The  day  is  not  distant  when  all  citizens  of  this  great 
republic  will  unite   in  claiming  Lee  as  their  own,  and, 
rising  from  the  study  of  his  heroic  life  and  deeds,  will 
cast  away  the  prejudices  of  forgotten  strife  and  exclaim: 
"We  know  him  now;  all  narrow  jealousies 
Are  silent,  and  we  see  him  as  he  moved  —  > 

How  modest,  kindly,  all-accomplished,  wise, 
With  what  sublime  repression  of  himself  — 
Wearing  the  white  flower  of  a  blameless  life." 


ROBERT  E.  LEE  AND  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 

THOMAS  J.   KERNAN 
Of  the  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana,  Bar 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  birth  of  General  Lee,  at  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  January  19, 
1907.) 

I  count  myself  thrice  happy  to  have  been  one  of  those 
who  sat  at  the  feet  of  General  Lee  in  the  grand  old  halls 
of  Washington  College,  hallowed  by  so  many  precious 
memories.  Those  were  the  heroic  days  of  that  historic 
institution.  A  nursling  of  the  Revolution,  it  had  been 
endowed  by  Washington;  but  it  was  left  for  Lee  to  breathe 
into  it  the  deathless  life  of  his  immortal  spirit.  In  April, 
1865,  he  surrendered  the  rear-guard,  as  it  were,  of  one 
generation  of  Southern  youth  at  Appomattox;  in  October, 
1865,  he  assumed  command  of  the  advance  guard  of  the 


166  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

next  generation  of  Southern  youth  at  Lexington.  Napo- 
leon grandiosely  said  to  his  Old  Guard  at  Fontainebleau, 
"If  I  have  consented  to  survive,  my  comrades,  it  is 
but  to  write  the  story  of  the  great  things  that  you  and 
I  have  done  together."  He  died  miserably  at  St.  Helena, 
without  redeeming  this  pledge,  or  accomplishing  aught 
else  of  good.  Lee,  by  his  conduct,  said  in  effect,  "It 
has  pleased  God  to  let  me  survive  my  comrades,  whom  I 
have  taught  to  die  grandly;  I  will  consecrate  my  declining 
years  to  teaching  their  sons  to  live  nobly."  And  the 
fulfilment  of  that  promise  is  writ  large  in  the  history  of 
the  last  five  years  of  his  life,  consecrated  to  the  cause  of 
education.  I  doubt  if  mere  human  annals  furnish  an 
instance  of  devotion  to  duty  so  simply  grand,  so  purely 
noble. 

And  so,  the  great  chieftain,  who  had  just  laid  down  the 
supreme  command  of  all  the  Southern  armies,  and  still 
a  prisoner  on  parole,  rode  unattended  into  Lexington 
on  Traveler  and  assumed  command  of  Washington  Col- 
lege, with  its  staff  of  four  professors  and  its  corps  of  fifty 
students.  Instantly,  almost,  the  power  of  his  mighty 
genius  and  the  magic  of  his  great  name  wrought  a  revolu- 
tion. He  at  once  rallied  around  him  the  South's  greatest 
educators  and  the  flower  of  Southern  youth.  And  hope 
was  born  again  in  the  hearts  of  Southern  people,  there 
upon  that  sacred  spot,  where  the  ideals  of  the  Old  South, 
so  beautifully  realized  in  him,  were  cherished  and  pre- 
served, and  the  spirit  of  the  New  South,  inspired  by 
him,  was  born  and  nurtured  into  strength  and  beauty. 

Priceless,  indeed,  is  the  heritage  left  us  by  our  gallant 
fathers  and  gracious  mothers  of  the  Old  South.  Grace- 
ful manners  and  noble  deeds  were  the  very  staple  of 


DUNBAR  ROWLAND  167 

their  daily  lives,  from  which  the  Old  South  wove  her 
wondrous  story.  There  was  the  home  of  honor,  the 
citadel  of  chivalry.  Her  men  were  the  bravest  and  the 
tenderest;  her  women  the  truest  and  fairest.  Sweet 
glimpses  of  those  halcyon  days  are  indissolubly  Wended 
with  the  earliest  recollections  of  my  childhood;  but  it 
were  too  long  to  tell  o'er  the  tale  of  all  the  beauties  of 
the  sunny,  happy  life  of  the  Old  South  of  long  ago.  It  is 
all  enshrined  in  history  and  hallowed  in  song  and  story. 
The  sun  ne'er  smiled  upon  a  land  more  fair,  nor  on  a 
people  more  worthy  of  so  fair  a  land.  But  the  greatest 
and  most  precious  of  all  the  legacies  of  all  the  ages  is 
the  ideal  realized  in  the  life  and  character  of  Robert  E. 
Lee,  the  kindly  gentleman,  the  peerless  soldier,  the  great 
educator,  the  human  exemplar  —  Godlike  in  his  grandeur, 
Christlike  in  his  simplicity. 


TRIBUTE  TO  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 

DUNBAR  ROWLAND 

Director  of  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History  of  the 
State  of  Mississippi 

(Extract  from  a  speech  made  in  accepting  a  portrait  of  Jefferson 
Davis  presented  by  the  Mississippi  division  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  Confederacy  for  the  Mississippi  Hall  of  Fame,  January  19,  1905.) 

In  Grattan's  eulogy  of  Chatham  he  says  that  the  great 
Englishman  "was  born  to  strike  a  blow  in  the  world 
that  should  resound  through  its  history."  How  well 
does  that  phrase  portray  the  career  of  Jefferson  Davis. 


168  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

There  are  certain  attributes  of  character  which  rarely 
fail  to  make  leaders  of  men  who  possess  them.  Mr. 
Davis  had  a  rare  combination  of  these  great  qualities. 
He  was  independent,  self-reliant,  and  resolute.  He  had 
earnest  and  intelligent  convictions,  combined  with  intense 
devotion  to  principle.  He  had  a  magnificent  courage, 
which  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  people,  and  an 
integrity  of  character  which  won  their  confidence.  He 
was  not  an  ephemeral  growth,  springing  into  existence 
from  abnormal  social  conditions,  but  the  splendid  prod- 
uct of  a  civilization  which  had  given  to  the  world  the 
most  superb  characters  known  to  history.  Jefferson 
Davis  was  of  patrician  mold.  He  was  endowed  by 
nature  with  the  rarest  qualities  of  both  mind  and  spirit, 
to  which  had  been  added  the  highest  culture  and  training. 
The  people  of  Mississippi  delighted  to  honor  him,  and 
during  the  long  period  of  his  public  service  not  a  shadow 
of  wrong  ever  marked  his  conduct.  It  was  but  an  added 
proof  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  the  Southern  people 
held  him  that  when  the  Confederacy  was  organized  he 
was  placed  at  its  head.  Mr.  Davis  had  a  wonderful 
comprehension  of  the  terrible  struggle  which  was  before 
him,  and  with  rare  judgment  he  called  to  his  side  the 
men  who  became  the  heroes  of  history.  Together  they 
led  the  great  struggle  for  an  independent  nationality. 
They  felt  that  the  Constitution  of  their  fathers  had  been 
violated,  and  with  a  spirit  which  animated  the  makers 
of  that  palladium  of  liberty,  they  rallied  to  its  defense. 
The  cause  for  which  they  fought  failed,  but  greatness 
does  not  always  consist  in  gaining  something,  but  in 
being  true.  Not  for  one  moment  during  that  long  and 
bitter  struggle  did  these  princely  spirits  waver  in  their 


DUNBAR  ROWLAND  169 

devotion  to  duty.  They  emerged  from  that  bloody  con- 
flict with  unstained  honor,  and  no  memory  of  their 
recreancy  remains  to-day  to  torture  the  sons  of  the 
South. 

Great  as  the  leader  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  appears 
at  every  period  of  his  life,  at  no  time  does  his  adamantine 
strength  of  character  display  itself  as  in  the  hour  of 
defeat.  With  a  courage  that  could  not  be  broken,  and 
a  fortitude  which  was  strengthened  by  affliction,  he  bore 
himself  in  that  dark  hour  as  only  a  hero  could,  and  gave 
to  the  world  no  outward  sign  of  what  his  great  soul 
suffered.  Though  not  a  ray  of  that  splendid  hope,  which 
had  arched  its  beautiful  bow  above  his  country,  remained 
to  cheer  him,  he  refused  to  regard  life  as  a  burden  and  a 
failure.  He  believed  that  life  was  the  supremest  gift  of 
God,  and  continued  to  pursue  its  aims  and  ends  with  a 
noble  interest  that  is  unprecedented  in  history  and  beau- 
tiful to  contemplate.  He  toiled,  even  to  extreme  old 
age,  to  give  as  his  parting  blessing  to  the  children  of  the 
South  a  true  history  of  their  fathers'  deeds. 

To  us  he  represents  all  that  is  best  in  Southern  char- 
acter, and  we  shall  continue  to  honor  him  as  long  as 
one  fair  green  stretch  of  this  beautiful  land,  for  whose 
honor  he  gave  himself  a  willing  sacrifice,  remains  in  our 
keeping. 


170  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AND  MISSISSIPPI 

THOMAS   SPIGHT 

Congressman  from  Mississippi 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
March  26,  1910.) 

Mr.  Chairman:  A  few  days  ago  the  gentleman  from 
Ohio,  under  "leave  to  print,"  had  inserted  in  the  Record 
a  belated  speech  which  he  vainly  sought  an  opportunity 
to  deliver  during  the  last  session  of  Congress.  He  then 
wanted  to  prevent  the  picture  of  Jefferson  Davis  from 
appearing  upon  the  silver  service  about  to  be  presented 
to  a  battle-ship  named  in  honor  of  the  state  of  Mississippi. 
For  reasons  which  reflect  credit  upon  the  Republican 
leadership  of  the  House,  he  failed  to  give  birth  to  this 
speech  at  that  time.  The  silver  service  with  the  etching 
of  Mr.  Davis  was  accepted,  and  has  been  on  the  Missis- 
sippi for  nearly  ten  months,  and  no  good  reason  can  be 
seen  for  making  this  deliverance  of  the  gentleman  from 
Ohio  at  this  untimely  date.  It  was  doubtless  a  burden 
to  him  to  carry  it  longer,  and  it  had  to  come,  and  I  hope 
he  feels  relieved. 

The  gentleman  from  Ohio  was  not  content  to  hurl  his 
anathemas  at  Mr.  Davis,  but  he  indulges  in  gratuitous, 
unprovoked  slander  of  all  the  people  of  the  South  in 
this  unfounded  statement: 

Silently  and  insidiously,  night  and  day,  in  the  schools,  churches, 
and  other  organizations  for  the  control  of  public  sentiment  in  the 
South,  the  leaven  of  distrust  and  discontent  seems  to  be  constantly 
working. 


THOMAS  SPIGHT  171 

I  believe  it  was  Edmund  Burke,  the  great  Irish  orator, 
who  said  he  did  not  know  how  to  draw  an  indictment 
against  a  whole  people.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  has 
gone  far  beyond  the  capacity  of  Burke  and  has  indicted 
all  the  women  and  all  the  girls,  all  the  men  and  all  the 
boys,  all  the  preachers  and  all  their  congregations  in  the 
South;  but  I  advise  him  that,  while  it  is  easy  to  make  a 
charge,  there  ought  to  be  some  sort  of  evidence  to  sustain 
it.  This  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  has  not  got,  and  he 
can  never  find  it.  I  well  remember  that  after  the  life  of 
the  sainted  McKinley  had  been  taken  by  a  murderous 
anarchist,  in  these  same  schoolhouses  and  churches  and 
in  the  temples  of  justice  all  over  the  Southland  the 
"voice  of  mourning"  was  heard  and  resolutions  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  sorely  stricken  wife  were  adopted.  McKin- 
ley was  a  Republican  and  also  from  Ohio,  but  he  was  an 
apostle  of  the  doctrine  of  "peace  on  earth,  good  will 
toward  men."  He  fought  us  valiantly  during  the  great 
war,  but  he  quit  fighting  when  we  laid  down  our  arms. 
He  spoke  words  of  kindness  and  cheer,  and  we  loved 
him.  He  illustrated  the  truth  of  what  Sir  Walter  Scott 
makes  one  of  his  characters  in  "Old  Mortality"  say,  "I 
never  knew  a  real  soldier  who  was  not  a  true-hearted 
gentleman." 

I  shall  not  permit  myself  to  be  provoked  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  great  questions  upon  which  we  divided 
in  the  fateful  days  from  1861  to  1865.  No  good  can 
come  of  it,  and  I  have  no  disposition  to  arouse  antago- 
nisms which  it  were  better  to  allow  to  sleep.  Let  the 
impartial  historian  of  the  future  be  the  arbiter  to  settle 
the  burning  issues  for  which  we  fought,  each  as  God  gave 
him  to  see  the  right.    One  thing  we  may  all  rejoice  in, 


172  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

that  to-day  we  are  all  citizens  of  the  same  great  republic. 
As  was  demonstrated  in  the  recent  war  with  Spain,  when 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  in  the  forefront  of  battle,  there 
is  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West,  but  all  are 
Americans,  ready  to  defend  with  their  lives  the  honor  of 
the  flag.  In  that  war  I  saw  my  own  son,  with  the  blood 
of  a  Confederate  soldier  in  his  veins,  side  by  side  with 
the  son  of  a  Federal  soldier  under  the  flag  of  a  common 
country,  each  ready  to  do,  to  dare,  and  to  die  in  defense 
of  its  sacred  folds. 

That  Mississippi  is  proud  of  her  history  and  of  her 
position  as  a  sovereign  state  of  the  Union  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  In  field  and  forum,  in  peace  and  in  war, 
her  position  has  been  established.  In  the  realm  of  oratory 
Prentiss  and  Lamar  must  ever  remain  shining  examples. 
As  soldiers,  she  points  with  pride  to  Davis  and  Walthall 
and  dozens  of  others.  In  constructive  statesmanship 
none  excelled  her  George.  In  the  science  of  jurisprudence 
her  field  is  full.  No  greater  preachers  than  her  Lowrey, 
Galloway,  and  Waddell  ever  proclaimed  the  "unsearch- 
able riches  of  the  gospel."  Her  Anglo-Saxon  blood  is 
of  the  purest;  her  citizenship  is  of  the  best;  her  women 
of  the  fairest  and  sweetest,  and  her  men  of  the  bravest. 

To-day  we  have  what  can  be  claimed  by  no  other 
state  in  the  Union,  seven  native  sons  of  Mississippi  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  —  Money  and  Percy, 
from  Mississippi;  Clarke,  from  Arkansas;  Newlands, 
from  Nevada;  Gore,  from  Oklahoma;  Chamberlain,  from 
Oregon;  and  Bailey,  from  Texas.  This  is  a  record  which 
has  never  been  equaled. 

If  we  are,  in  truth  and  in  fact,  coequal  states,  there 
should  be  no  caviling  as  to  individual  dignity.    Love  of 


CLARENCE  S.  DARROW  173 

country  and  pride  in  her  institutions  are  to  be  cultivated 
as  the  greatest  safeguards  of  the  republic  and  should 
be  circumscribed  by  no  sectional  boundaries  nor  poisoned 
by  any  outburst  of  passion. 


THE  HAYWOOD  TRIAL:  PLEA  FOR  THE 
DEFENSE 

CLARENCE   S.   DARROW 
Of  the  Chicago  Bar 

(Extract  from  his  closing  address  to  the  jury  in  the  trial  of  Wil- 
liam Haywood  as  a  conspirator  in  the  assassination  of  Governor 
Frank  Steunenberg,  of  Idaho,  1906.  The  trial  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country.) 

The  defendant  in  this  case,  William  D.  Haywood,  is 
charged  with  having  killed  the  late  Governor  Steunen- 
berg. The  murder  was  cold,  deliberate,  cowardly  in  the 
extreme,  and  if  this  man,  sitting  in  his  office  in  Denver, 
fifteen  hundred  miles  away,  employed  this  miserable 
assassin  to  come  here  and  do  this  cowardly  work,  then, 
for  God's  sake,  gentlemen,  hang  him  by  the  neck  until 
dead.  He  has  fought  many  a  fight  —  many  a  fight  with 
the  persecutors  who  are  hounding  him  in  this  court. 
He  has  met  them  in  many  a  battle  in  the  open  field,  and 
he  is  not  a  coward.  If  he  is  to  die,  he  will  die  as  he  has 
lived,  with  his  face  to  the  foe. 

Gentlemen,  when  you  are  through  with  this  trial  and 
have  gone  back  to  your  homes  and  think  of  it,  pictures 
will  come  to  you  of  the  figures  in  this  case,  and  amongst 


174  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  rest  Harry  Orchard's.  It  may  not  come  to  all  of 
you  alike.  One  of  you  may  picture  Harry  Orchard  as 
he  is  meeting  this  drunken  man  reeling  out  of  the  saloon 
and  shooting  him  to  death  in  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
Another  man  may  picture  him  as  he  places  the  fagot 
under  Neville's  saloon  and  runs  away.  Another  may 
picture  him  as  he  plants  a  box  of  powder  under  the  station 
and  hurries  off  in  the  darkness  to  save  his  life,  while 
he  sends  fourteen  souls  unshriven  into  the  great  beyond. 
Another  may  picture  him  placing  a  bomb  at  Steunen- 
berg's  gate.  Hawley  will  picture  him  as  a  cherubim  with 
wings  growing  out  from  his  shoulders  and  with  a  halo 
just  above  his  head  and  singing  songs,  with  a  lawyer  on 
one  side  of  him  and  McPartland  on  the  other.  I  don't 
know  yet  how  Borah  will  picture  him,  but  everybody 
will  picture  him  according  to  how  they  see  him.  You 
have  seen  him  here.  You  have  heard  his  story.  You 
have  seen  him,  sleek  and  fat  and  well  fed,  facing  this 
jury  day  by  day,  asking  for  this  man's  blood.  Do  you 
ever  want  to  see  him  again  ?  Is  there  any  man  that  can 
ever  think  of  Harry  Orchard  —  any  man  but  Hawley  — 
is  there  any  sane  man,  I  will  say,  who  can  ever  think 
of  Harry  Orchard  except  in  loathing  and  disgust?  And 
yet,  gentlemen,  upon  the  testimony  of  this  brute,  this 
man  who  would  assassinate  his  own  nine-year-old  girl 
with  a  dagger  a  thousand  times  more  malicious  and 
deadly  than  one  that  kills,  upon  his  testimony  you  are 
asked  to  get  rid  of  Bill  Haywood.  For  what?  Does 
anybody  else  attack  his  name  ?  Anybody  else  swear  any- 
thing against  him?  Has  any  other  voice  been  raised 
to  accuse  him  ?  Oh,  no.  You  are  asked  to  take  his  life 
because  down  in  Colorado  and  up  in  the  Cceur  d'Alenes 


CLARENCE  S.  DARROW  175 

he  has  been  against  the  Mine  Owners'  Association,  and 
because  he  has  been  organizing  the  weak,  the  poor,  the 
toilers;  and  for  that  reason  he  has  raised  up  against  him 
the  power  of  this  body  of  men,  and  you  are  asked  to 
kill  Bill  Haywood. 

I  have  known  Haywood  —  I  have  known  him  well  and 
I  believe  in  him.  God  knows  it  would  be  a  sore  day  to 
me  if  he  should  go  upon  the  scaffold.  The  sun  would  not 
shine  or  the  birds  would  not  sing  on  that  day  —  for  me. 
I  would  think  of  him,  I  would  think  of  his  wife,  of  his 
mother,  I  would  think  of  his  children,  I  would  think  of 
the  great  cause  that  he  represents.  It  would  be  a  sore 
day  for  me,  but,  gentlemen,  he  and  his  mother,  and  his 
wife  and  his  children,  are  not  my  chief  concern  in  this 
great  case.  It  is  not  for  them  I  plead.  Other  men  have 
died  in  the  same  cause  in  which  Will  Haywood  has  risked 
his  life.  He  can  die  if  this  jury  decrees  it;  but,  oh,  gentle- 
men, do  not  think  for  a  moment  that  if  you  hang  him 
you  will  crucify  the  labor  movement  of  the  world;  do 
not  think  that  you  will  kill  the  hopes  and  the  aspirations 
and  the  desires  of  the  weak  and  poor. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  not  for  William  Haywood  alone  that 
I  speak.  I  speak  for  the  poor,  for  the  weak,  for  the 
weary,  for  that  long  line  of  men  who,  in  darkness  and 
despair,  have  borne  the  labors  of  the  human  race.  The 
eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  you  —  upon  you  twelve  men 
of  Idaho  to-night.  Wherever  the  English  language  is 
spoken  or  wherever  any  tongue  makes  known  the  thoughts 
of  men  in  any  portion  of  the  civilized  world,  men  are 
talking  and  wondering  and  dreaming  about  the  verdict 
of  these  twelve  men  that  I  see  before  me  now.  If 
you  kill  him  your  act  will  be  applauded  by  many.    If  you 


176  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

should  decree  Bill  Haywood's  death,  in  the  railroad 
offices  of  our  great  cities  men  will  applaud  your  names. 
If  you  decree  his  death,  amongst  the  spiders  of  Wall 
Street  will  go  up  paeans  of  praise  for  these  twelve  good 
men  and  true.  In  every  bank  in  the  world,  where  men 
hate  Haywood  because  he  fights  for  the  poor  and  against 
that  accursed  system  upon  which  the  favored  live  and 
grow  rich  and  fat  —  from  all  those  you  will  receive  bless- 
ings and  unstinted  praise. 

But  if  your  verdict  should  be  "not  guilty"  in  this 
case,  there  are  still  those  who  will  reverently  bow  then- 
heads  and  thank  these  twelve  men  for  the  life  and  repu- 
tation you  have  saved.  Out  on  our  broad  prairies  where 
men  toil  with  their  hands,  out  on  the  wide  ocean  where 
men  are  tossed  and  buffeted  on  the  waves,  through  our 
mills  and  factories,  and  down  deep  under  the  earth, 
thousands  of  men,  and  of  women  and  children  —  men 
who  labor,  men  who  suffer,  women  and  children  weary 
with  care  and  toil  —  these  men  and  these  women  and 
these  children  will  kneel  to-night  and  ask  their  God  to 
guide  your  hearts  —  these  men  and  these  women  and 
these  little  children,  the  poor,  the  weak,  and  the  suffering 
of  the  world,  are  stretching  out  their  helpless  hands  to 
this  jury  in  mute  appeal  for  Will  Haywood's  life. 


WILLIAM  E.  BORAH  177 


THE  HAYWOOD  TRIAL:  PLEA  FOR  THE 
PROSECUTION 

WILLIAM  E.  BORAH 
United  States  Senator  from  Idaho 

(The  concluding  part  of  his  speech  to  the  jury  in  the  trial  of 
William  Haywood  for  the  murder  of  Governor  Steunenburg.) 

I  have  read  Danton's  harangue  to  the  mob  in  the 
streets  of  Paris;  I  have  all  but  heard  the  silvery  tones 
of  Desmoulins  in  the  Jacobin  clubs,  where  organized 
assassins  toyed  with  the  lives  of  men;  I  can  see  Robes- 
pierre, now  drunk  with  his  fellows'  blood,  staggering 
back  against  the  pillars  of  the  assembly  hall  as  retribu- 
tion raised  its  cold  hand  to  lead  him  forth  to  death, 
but  never  have  I  heard  or  read  so  frightful  an  attack  upon 
all  those  things  for  which  the  saints  of  justice  have  suffered 
martyrdom  as  I  have  heard  in  this  court-room. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  many  times  during  this  trial  you 
have  been  much  moved  by  the  eloquence  of  counsel  for 
the  defense.  They  are  men  of  wondrous  powers.  They 
have  been  brought  here  because  so  rarely  gifted  in  power 
to  sway  the  minds  of  men.  It  was  their  part  in  loyalty 
to  their  clients  to  toy  with  your  sympathies,  to  call  you, 
if  possible,  from  the  plain  path  of  justice  and  duty;  to 
lead  you,  if  possible,  from  the  brave  and  manly  considera- 
tion of  the  real  facts  of  this  case.  But  as  I  listened  to  the 
music  of  their  voices  and  felt  for  a  moment  the  compel- 
ling touch  of  their  hypnotic  influence,  there  came  back 
to  me  all  the  more  vividly,  when  released  from  the  spell, 
another   scene  —  there  came  to  me   in  more  moving 


178  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

tones  other  voices.  I  remembered  again  the  awful  night 
of  December  30,  1905,  a  night  which  added  ten  years  to 
the  life  of  some  who  are  in  this  court-room  now.  I  felt 
again  its  cold  and  merciless  chill,  faced  the  drifting  snow 
and  peered  at  last  into  the  darkness  for  the  sacred  spot 
where  last  lay  my  dead  friend,  and  saw  true,  only  too 
true,  the  stain  of  his  life-blood  upon  the  whited  earth. 
I  saw  men  and  women  standing  about  in  storm  and  dark- 
ness, silent  in  the  presence  of  the  dreadful  mystery,  and 
Idaho  disgraced  and  dishonored  —  I  saw  murder  —  no, 
not  murder  —  a  thousand  times  worse  than  murder,  I 
saw  anarchy  displaying  its  first  bloody  triumph  to  Idaho. 
I  saw  government  by  assassination  pointing  to  the  mangled 
form  of  Frank  Steunenberg,  the  broken  family,  the  blood 
bespattered  home,  and  saying  to  all  —  look,  look,  and 
take  notice!  Here  is  the  fate  of  all  who  do  their  duty 
to  their  state  and  the  Government.  As  I  thought  over 
that  night  again  I  said  to  myself,  Thou  living  God,  can 
time  or  the  arts  of  counsel  unteach  the  lessons  of  that 
hour?  No,  no;  for  the  sake  of  all  that  good  men  hold 
near  and  dear,  let  us  not  be  misled,  let  us  not  forget, 
let  us  not  be  falterers  in  this  great  test  of  courage  and 
heroism. 

Counsel  for  the  defense  have  tried  to  make  you  believe 
that  we  would  have  professional  distinction  at  the  cost 
of  human  liberty  or  life.  There  has  been  something  in 
this  cause  to  make  a  man  forget  all  professional  pride. 
I  only  want  what  you  want  —  murder  stopped  in 
Idaho.  I  only  want  what  you  want  —  human  life 
made  safe  —  assassination  put  out  of  business.  I  only 
want  what  you  want  —  the  gate  which  leads  to  our  homes, 
the  yard  gate  whose  inward  swing  tells  of  the  returning 


WILLIAM  E.  BORAH  179 

husband  and  father,  shielded  and  guarded  by  the  courage 
and  manhood  of  Idaho  juries. 

But  they  say  it  is  a  solemn  thing  to  take  life.  True, 
very  true.  But  the  fearless  performance  of  duty  by 
courts  and  juries  protects  society  and  prevents  the  spread 
of  murder  and  anarchy.  In  the  older  days,  when  man 
walked  closer  to  his  God  and  heard  more  clearly  the 
admonitions  of  the  moral  teachings  under  which  we  must 
thrive  or  perish,  it  was  said,  "By  man's  blood  shall 
man's  blood  be  shed."  He  who  takes  life  in  the  malice 
of  the  heart  forfeits  his  right  to  live  —  for  the  sake  of 
society,  for  the  sake  of  all  men  who  love  their  fellowmen 
and  want  to  live  with  them  in  peace  —  he  forfeits  his 
right  to  live.  It  has  been  so  from  the  beginning,  so  by 
the  sanction  of  Him  who  provides  all  things  for  the  good 
of  the  children  of  men. 

If  this  be  true  where  individual  man  slays  but  another, 
ten  thousand  times  more  true  should  it  be  where  men  in 
hatred  and  malice,  in  stealth  and  in  secrecy,  combine, 
confederate,  and  agree  to  carry  on  and  commit  indiscrim- 
inate murder,  where  men  defy  law,  denounce  society, 
trample  upon  all  rights,  human  and  divine,  and  thirst 
for  the  blood  of  all  who  chance  to  thwart  or  oppose  their 
criminal  purposes.  Anarchy,  pale,  bloodless,  restless, 
hungry  demon  from  the  crypts  of  hell  —  righting  for  a 
foothold  in  Idaho!  What  shall  we  do?  This  is  the  ques- 
tion. Shall  we  crush  it,  shall  we  make  it  unsafe  for  the 
disciples  of  this  creed  to  do  business  here,  or  shall  we  palter 
and  trim  and  compromise  and  invite  it  to  choose  other  vic- 
tims? These  are  the  questions  to  be  settled  by  you  and 
you  alone.  In  the  court  of  your  own  conscience  the  ver- 
dict must  be  worked  out,  and  I  must  leave  it  all  with  you. 


180  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


DAMAGE  SUITS  AND  THE  LAW 

WILLIAM  S.   COWHERD 
Formerly  a  Congressman  from  Missouri 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  a  banquet  of  the  Kansas  City  Bar 
Association,  February  22,  1909.) 

The  development  of  the  common  law  has  failed  to 
keep  pace  with  the  development  of  industrial  organiza- 
tion. In  1837  Lord  Abinger  decided  that  the  butcher 
boy's  helper  could  not  recover  for  the  butcher  boy's 
negligence,  and  thus  fastened  the  fellow-servant  doctrine 
on  the  law  of  England. 

But  what  justice  can  there  be  in  such  a  rule  applied  to 
the  five  thousand  employees  who  to-morrow  morning  are 
passing  through  the  gates  of  one  of  our  great  packing- 
houses ?  It  may  have  once  been  true,  though  I  fear  it 
was  never  more  than  legal  fiction,  that  the  man  entering 
upon  hazardous  employment  contracted  for  increased 
compensation  and  rightfully  assumed  the  dangers  that 
he  faced.  But  we  know  this  is  not  true  to-day.  Laws 
compelling  factory  and  mine  inspection,  laws  regulating 
safety  appliances  and  a  whole  brood  of  sanitary  regula- 
tions attest  the  humane  policy  of  modern  times,  which 
recognize  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  law  to  protect  those 
who  either  are  too  weak  or  too  careless  to  protect  them- 
selves. We  recognize  that  man  must  labor  if  children 
would  eat,  and  the  work  of  society  must  be  done.  Are 
we  to  say  to  the  brakeman  who  during  last  week's  storm 
attempted  to  find  precarious  footing  on  the  narrow, 
sleet-covered  plankway  on   top  of  a  swaying  car,  and 


WILLIAM  S.  COWHERD  181 

slipping  fell  beneath  its  wheels,  that  he  had  assumed  the 
risk  and  cannot  recover  for  the  injury?  If  so,  we  may 
rest  assured  he  will  find  some  defect  in  the  plankway 
that  will  let  him  to  the  jury  and  the  jury  will  decide 
regardless  of  the  weight  of  the  evidence  that  the  injured 
man  should  be  compensated  for  the  loss  he  has  sustained. 
If  capital  has  made  its  investment  under  the  promise 
that  this  loss  was  one  it  would  not  have  to  bear,  it  is 
unjust  that  society  should  settle  these  burdens  back 
upon  it.  The  community  ought  to  bear  the  loss  by 
permitting  the  investor  to  add  it  to  the  cost  of  doing 
business. 

Business  can  prosper  under  any  fixed  and  certain 
charge;  it  never  prospers  long  when  yoked  with  the 
gambler  and  the  speculator.  The  burdens  entailed  by 
accidents  in  industry  and  transportation  should  con- 
stitute an  item  of  the  cost  of  production  or  operation 
and  be  borne  by  the  entire  community.  Twenty-five 
years  ago  Germany,  recognizing  the  justice  of  this  policy 
and  the  necessity  of  giving  compensation  to  men  injured 
in  industrial  pursuits,  regardless  of  technical  defenses, 
established  a  system  of  compulsory  insurance.  Every 
workman  earning  a  certain  amount  per  annum  must  be 
insured  against  injury,  the  compensation  being  measured 
by  the  wages  he  is  receiving.  Under  this  law  twelve  of 
the  fifteen  million  wage-earners  in  Germany  are  to-day 
insured,  the  employer  bearing  one-third,  the  workman 
two-thirds  of  the  cost  of  insurance.  With  the  risk  reduced 
thus  to  a  fixed  basis,  the  wage  schedule  of  the  workman 
can  be  adjusted  to  meet  the  charge  and  the  employer 
can  add  the  cost  of  insurance  to  the  price  of  the  article 
produced  and  in  the  end  the  burden  is  distributed  over 


182  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

j 

the  entire  community.  Practically  every  country  in 
Europe  has  followed  this  plan;  in  France,  Italy,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Spain,  Belgium,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark, 
Holland,  and  Finland  similar  laws  are  in  force. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar,  we  are  the  guardians  of  the  law. 
If  it  be  unjust  or  inefficient  ours  is  the  blame.  Lawyers 
control  every  legislature  in  the  land  and  dominate  the 
Federal  Congress.  In  most  law-making  bodies  of  this 
country  they  constitute  a  majority  of  the  membership 
and  in  all,  by  reason  of  ability,  experience,  and  training, 
they  are  relied  upon  for  leadership.  Recent  years  have 
shown  remarkable  development  in  every  line  of  industry 
and  every  profession.  The  investor  has  been  busy  and 
the  scientist  has  accomplished  the  impossible.  The 
public  expects  and  has  a  right  to  expect  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  law  will  keep  step  with  the  progress  of  the 
country.  On  your  shoulders  rests  this  burden.  Oppor- 
tunity beckons  us  and  society  demands  that  we  right 
the  wrongs  labor  now  endures  and  make  business  certain 
of  the  profit  to  which  it  is  entitled. 


THE  LAWYER  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

FREDERICK  W.   LEHMANN 
President  of  the  American  Bar  Association 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Nebraska  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  November  23,  1906.) 

This  is  a  land  of  law  and  of  lawyers.    And  too  many 
of  both  is  the  general,  if  not  universal,  comment.    Still 


FREDERICK  W.  LEHMANN  183 

the  laws  increase  and  the  lawyers  multiply.  The  pro- 
fession here  has  a  larger  muster-roll  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  world,  and  however  much  it  may  be  disparaged 
in  word,  nowhere  else  has  it  been  so  much  favored  in 
deed. 

Peter  the  Great,  during  his  stay  in  England,  went  into 
Westminster  Hall  and  inquired  who  were  the  men  in 
black  robes  doing  so  much  talking.  Being  answered  that 
they  were  lawyers,  he  replied,  "I  have  two  in  my  empire, 
and  when  I  return  home  I  will  hang  one  of  them."  Singu- 
lar moderation  on  his  part,  for  under  his  rule  there  was 
no  occasion  for  even  one  lawyer. 

Jack  Cade,  in  his  scheme  of  leveling  and  license,  was 
more  consistent  and  more  thorough.  "The  first  thing 
we  do,  let's  kill  all  the  lawyers." 

Alike  in  the  autocratic  and  in  the  communistic  scheme 
of  society,  the  lawyer  has  no  place.  As  the  institutions 
of  a  country  become  representative,  as  man  in  his  indi- 
vidual capacity  meets  with  regard,  the  lawyer  becomes 
important.  He  is  the  apostle  of  individualism  and 
flourishes  only  under  liberty  regulated  by  law. 

Call  the  roll  of  our  great  leaders  in  House  or  Senate, 
and  almost  without  exception  they  have  been  lawyers 
or  students  of  law.  There  are  Randolph,  Calhoun,  Clay, 
Webster,  Benton,  Douglas,  and  Seward.  Lawyers  are 
conspicuous  in  the  list  of  governors  of  all  the  states. 
They  are  in  the  Cabinets  of  the  Presidents,  not  simply 
as  attorneys-general,  but  as  holding  every  portfolio. 
They  are  our  ministers  abroad.  They  have  negotiated 
nearly  all  our  treaties  and  accomplished  all  our  peaceful 
acquisitions  of  territory.  In  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
the  repeal  of  that  Compromise,  questions  of   internal 


184  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

improvement,  controversies  over  the  institution  of 
slavery,  they  occupied  the  commanding  positions  upon 
both  sides.  With  one  exception,  every  President  of  the 
United  States  has  come  to  the  office  from  the  battle-field 
or  from  the  court-room  —  with  one  exception  they  have 
been  lawyers,  or  soldiers,  or  both,  and  of  the  twenty-five 
incumbents,  nineteen  have  been  lawyers. 

Whether  lawyers  will  continue  to  hold  high  office  in 
the  measure  of  the  past  matters  not,  but  it  matters 
everything  for  them  and  for  the  country  that  they  remain 
true  to  their  traditions  as  helpers  and  leaders  in  every 
public  cause.  That  they  may  do  this,  they  must  have 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  their  fellowmen,  as  Ham- 
ilton and  Jefferson,  Webster  and  Calhoun,  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  had  them.  They  must  maintain  the  old  stand- 
ards and  ideals,  putting  achievement  above  emolument, 
a  good  fight  before  a  great  fee,  and  keep  unsold  and  un- 
hired  their  manhood  and  their  citizenship.  In  the  public 
work  of  the  future  there  is  a  place  for  every  member  of 
the  profession;  for  the  specialist  and  the  corporation 
lawyer,  as  well  as  the  rest;  but  always,  as  in  the  past, 
in  the  front  rank  will  be  the  man  of  all-round  attain- 
ments and  all-round  experience,  the  model  of  the  American 
statesman  —  the  country  lawyer  —  for  his  day  is  not 
past,  nor  in  a  free  country  ever  will  be.    He  will  live 

"  For  the  cause  that  needs  assistance, 
For  the  wrongs  that  lack  resistance, 
For  the  future  in  the  distance, 
For  the  good  that  he  can  do." 


HIRAM  M.  GARWOOD  185 


UNANIMITY  IN  VERDICTS  OF  JURIES 

HIRAM  M.   GARWOOD 
Of  the  Houston,  Texas,  Bar 

(Extract  from  an  address,  before  a  committee  of  the  Texas  State 
Senate,  on  a  bill  abolishing  the  requirement  of  unanimity  in  ver- 
dicts of  juries,  1908.) 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  American  Bar 
Association  in  i8q8,  Mr.  Choate  chose  for  his  theme, 
"The  Jury  System."  It  was  a  memorable  oration,  made 
by  one  worthy  to  wear  the  mantle  of  Thomas  Erskine, 
and  of  his  own  great  kinsman,  Rufus  Choate.  Referring 
in  terms  of  eloquent  pathos  to  his  own  increasing  years, 
he  said  that  he  wished  to  deliver  it  to  the  American  Bar 
as  his  last  message  that  they  should  preserve  inviolate 
the  jury  system  in  its  purity,  and  with  a  wealth  of  his- 
toric allusion  and  a  conclusiveness  of  logic  established  the 
fact  that  the  requirement  for  unanimity  in  the  verdict 
was  the  surest  way  of  ascertaining  the  truth  and  was  the 
greatest  safeguard  of  personal  and  property  rights  that 
could  be  devised.  Among  other  things,  he  stated  that 
the  number  of  mistrials  by  disagreement  of  juries  was 
inconsiderable,  and  that,  from  the  information  which 
he  had  acquired,  throughout  the  United  States  it  would 
not  amount  to  more  than  three  and  one  half  to  four 
per  cent  of  the  total  trials,  and  that,  eliminating  those 
cases  where  more  than  three  jurors  prevented  a  verdict, 
the  number  of  mistrials  would  amount  scarcely  to  one 
per  cent  of  the  total. 

The  end  of  judicial  investigation,  as  so  well  expressed 


186  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

by  Judge  Pleasants,  is  not  merely  expedition;  it  is  not 
merely  economy,  but  it  is  the  complete  establishment  of 
truth  and  the  vindication  of  the  right.  The  philosophy 
of  the  jury  lies  absolutely  in  the  requirement  for  una- 
nimity. The  verdict  in  such  a  case  is  not  a  nameless  and 
a  nondescript  thing;  it  is  the  product  of  every  man  upon 
it.  Knowing  that  the  verdict  is  dependent  absolutely 
upon  the  conclusions  of  his  own  intellect,  each  man 
measures  up  to  the  full  responsibility  of  the  occasion; 
that  responsibility  he  can  shift  to  no  other.  This  pro- 
duces an  independence  of  thought  and  a  conservatism 
of  deliberation  which  makes  mightily  for  the  truth. 

With  the  glorious  history  of  the  common  law  behind 
us;  with  the  fact  that  every  great  and  signal  declaration 
made  by  any  English-speaking  people,  from  Magna 
Charta  to  the  Declaration  of  Texas  Independence,  in 
its  favor;  with  the  experience  of  ninety-nine  per  cent 
of  the  great  English-speaking  judges;  with  the  enthusi- 
astic testimony  to  the  efficacy  of  the  unanimous  verdict 
of  twelve  men  of  almost  every  great  advocate  at  the 
English  and  American  Bar,  from  Thomas  Erskine  to 
Jeremiah  Black,  and  from  Black  to  Joseph  H.  Choate; 
with  the  encomiums  of  the  greatest  statesmen  from 
Edmund  Burke  and  Charles  Fox  to  Jefferson  and  Calhoun, 
are  we  not  justified  in  saying  with  the  great  Chief  Justice 
Roger  B.  Taney  that  "Our  liberties  are  clearly  bound 
up  with  the  preservation  in  full  force  and  usefulness  of 
the  great  principles  of  the  common  law  and  of  trial  by 
jury." 

And  with  Judge  Dillon,  who,  in  his  "Laws  and  Juris- 
prudence of  England  and  America,"  says:  "I  protest 
against  the  continentalization  of  our  law.    I  invoke  the 


DELPHIN  M.  DELMAS  187 

conservative  Judgment  of  the  profession  against  the 
iconoclast  who  in  the  name  of  reform  comes  to  destroy 
the  jury;  against  the  rash  surgery  which  holds  not  a 
cautery  to  cure,  but  a  knife  to  amputate.  Twelve  good 
and  lawful  men  are  better  judges  of  disputed  facts  than 
twelve  learned  judges." 

And,  finally,  with  the  great  teacher  of  the  common 
law,  Blackstone,  that  the  system  of  jury  trial,  as  it  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  from  the  fathers,  is  "the  pal- 
ladium of  British  liberty,  the  glory  of  the  English  law, 
and  the  most  transcendent  privilege  which  any  subject 
can  enjoy  or  wish  for." 


TRIAL  BY  JURY 

DELPHIN  M.   DELMAS 
Formerly  of  the  San  Francisco  Bar;  now  of  New  York  City 

(From  an  address  before  the  Bar  Association,  at  Kansas  City, 
Missouri.) 

As  it  is  the  most  ancient,  trial  by  jury  has  been  the 
most  enduring  of  all  the  political  and  judicial  institutions 
which  have  flourished  among  the  English-speaking 
peoples.  Coeval  with  the  earliest  dawn  of  organized 
society  in  Britain,  its  origin  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity. 
Though  in  a  crude  and  rudimentary  form,  it  had  existed 
for  centuries  when  the  Norman  invader  set  his  foot 
upon  English  soil,  and  it  survived  the  general  wreck  of 
English  laws  and  customs  which  followed  in  the  wake  of 
his  conquering  footsteps.    The  hand  of  time,  beneath 


188  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

which  all  other  institutions  underwent  alteration  or 
decay,  left  it  untouched.  The  march  of  ages,  which 
swept  away  other  great  achievements  of  human  polity, 
but  served  to  confirm  it.  The  wars  and  revolutions, 
which  uprooted  weaker  growths,  but  strengthened  the 
hold  which  it  had  upon  the  English  earth,  and  inured 
its  trunk  to  defy  still  mightier  storms.  In  the  long 
unfolding  of  centuries,  it  saw  kingly  houses,  founded  in 
the  confident  hope  of  perpetual  succession,  rise,  flourish, 
and  vanish,  leaving  no  trace  behind;  it  saw  the  Tudor 
dynasty  overthrow  the  Plantagenet,  the  Stuart  succeed 
the  Tudor,  the  Hanoverian  supplant  the  Stuart;  it  saw 
the  feudal  system  crumble  into  dust,  and  upon  its  ruins 
rise  the  structure  of  modern  society;  it  saw  the  crown 
of  spiritual  supremacy  pass  from  the  head  of  the  Pope 
of  Rome  to  the  head  of  the  Monarch  of  England;  it  saw 
the  scepter  of  empire  and  of  rule,  fallen  from  the  nerveless 
grasp  of  the  nobility,  snatched  up  and  gripped  by  the 
strong  hand  of  the  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled; 
it  saw  the  kingly  office  decline  from  the  rank  which  gave 
it  once  a  voice  potential  in  the  affairs  of  the  state,  to 
become  an  empty  dignity,  best  fitted  to  grace  a  social 
function,  or  adorn  a  public  show;  it  saw  the  material 
wealth  of  the  realm  transferred  from  the  baronial  halls 
of  the  landed  aristocracy  to  the  counting-houses  of  mer- 
chants, money-changers,  and  bankers  in  Leadenhall  and 
Lombard  Street;  it  saw  the  whole  frame  of  legal  pro- 
cedure recast  and  remolded,  antique  forms  grown  hoary 
with  age  abandoned,  the  Constitution  and  the  name  of 
the  courts  consecrated  by  the  lapse  of  centuries  funda- 
mentally altered,  and  the  whole  fabric  of  the  judicial 
hierarchy  rebuilt  from  turret  to  foundation-stone  —  all 


PRESLEY  K.  EWING  189 

this  it  saw,  and,  amid  the  universal  wreck  of  things  which 
seemed  endowed  with  enduring  life,  it  alone,  defying 
time  and  change,  stands  as  it  stood  in  the  years  when 
Edward  the  Confessor  sat  upon  the  throne  of  England. 

As  no  other  institution  ever  struck  its  roots  so  deep 
into  the  hearts  of  the  English-speaking  races,  so  to  none 
have  they  clung  with  equal  tenacity.  As  long  as  the 
people  continue  to  govern  themselves,  so  long  shall  it 
endure  among  them.  Its  decay  will  mark  the  decadence, 
and  its  overthrow  the  end  of  popular  liberty.  The  right 
of  the  people  to  administer  their  own  justice  is  as  indis- 
pensable to  the  practise  and  to  the  perpetuation  of  self- 
government  as  is  their  right  to  make  their  own  laws. 


THE  PROFESSION  OF  THE  LAW 

PRESLEY  K.   EWING 
Of  the  Houston,  Texas,  Bar 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  Texas  State 
Bar  Association.) 

The  aristocracy  of  American  brains  is  now,  and  ever 
has  been  in  the  history  of  our  nation,  the  American  Bar. 
Plumed  on  the  priceless  ideals  of  the  republic,  impressed 
in  her  inspiring  institutions,  imprinted  on  her  prevailing 
policies,  written  into  her  imperishable  principles,  and 
linked  with  the  very  life  of  her  laws,  is  the  influence  of 
the  American  lawyer. 

Not,  however,  on  this  continent  alone,  but  in  every 
clime  where  civilization  has  carried  forward  the  immortal 


190  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

principle  of  liberty,  the  voice  of  the  lawyer,  above  the 
din  and  tumult  of  retarding  influences,  has  been  heard 
in  tones  of  thunder  to  "ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the 
true."  Now  it  is  Erskine,  with  the  impassioned  fire  of 
his  resistless  eloquence,  grappling  constructive  treason 
and  strangling  unto  death  which  will  never  know  a  resur- 
rection morn.  Again,  it  is  Labori,  with  a  purpose  noth- 
ing could  appal,  tearing  the  mask  of  military  despotism 
from  the  imprisonment  of  Dreyfus,  and  mingling  truth 
and  justice  with  the  eagles  of  France.  Illustrations 
might  be  multiplied  almost  indefinitely,  but  it  is  enough 
if  we  hearken  to  their  message  and  warning.  Upon  us 
of  this  generation  is  the  responsibility  of  seeing  that  the 
matchless  monuments  of  our  predecessors  shall  not  with 
dishonor  be  defaced. 

The  rule  of  the  profession,  whatever  may  be  the  excep- 
tion, is  duty  rather  than  success,  integrity  of  character 
and  fife,  love  of  truth  and  right,  respect  if  not  reverence 
for  authority,  human  and  divine,  and  abundant  charity 
for  the  frailties  of  man.  These  are  the  shining  glory  of 
the  profession,  bench,  and  Bar.  And  if  these  principles 
are  sometimes  obscured  by  excessive  zeal  and  emula- 
tion, ever  and  anon  they  will,  like  the  sun  shadowed 
by  a  passing  cloud,  return  to  their  original  splendor. 

Under  this  high  ideal  and  within  its  bounds,  the  fidelity 
of  our  profession  has  been,  through  all  its  notable  history, 
a  light  and  landmark  on  the  cliffs  of  the  world's  devotion. 
As  has  been  well  said,  "Kings  might  envy  it  and  patriots 
imitate."  No  flattering  can  beguile,  no  temptation  of 
reward  allure,  no  spectacle  of  terror  turn  away  the  noble 
lawyer  from  his  client's  side.  When  once  launched  upon 
the  sea  of  strife,  whether  borne  aloft  upon  the  rolling 


GEORGE  W.  KIRCHWEY  191 

billows  of  the  popular  tide  or  dashed  with  fury  against 
the  sands,  he  stands  alike  firm  and  erect,  never  wavering 
in  his  loyalty,  never  faltering  in  his  faith,  an  adherent 
who  will  not  desert  and  cannot  betray. 

Young  men  —  those  of  you  just  about  entering  the 
profession  —  I  say  to  you,  the  Bar  is  not  a  communion 
of  saints,  and  it  often  needs  a  forgiveness  of  sins.  But 
ever,  above  and  beyond  its  fools  to  be  pitied  and  its 
knaves  to  be  deplored,  is  an  escutcheon,  spotless  and 
stainless.  To  your  hands  it  will  soon  be  committed. 
Bear  it  above  the  marshes  of  commercialism  and  greed, 
raise  it  to  the  heights  of  patriotism  and  truth,  consecrate  it 
to  law  and  order,  enshrine  it  to  human  liberty,  and  finally 
plant  it  on  the  turrets  of  its  traditions,  where  the  stars  may 
gleam  and  glitter  over  it  as  it  proclaims  God's  foremost 
attribute  on  earth,  Justice  —  untarnished  and  unsullied, 
for  which  "all  place,  a  temple,  and  all  season,  summer." 


THE  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  LAWYER 

GEORGE   W.   KIRCHWEY 
Dean  of  the  School  of  Law  of  Columbia  University 

(From  an  address  delivered  upon  the  occasion  of  the  celebration 
of  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  University 
of  Cincinnati.) 

Our  American  notion  that  everybody  needs  a  little 
education,  and  nobody  more  than  a  little,  has  much  to 
answer  for,  but  nowhere  has  it  been  more  disastrous  or 
grotesque  than  in  equipping  the  lawyer. 


193  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

It  is  a  curious  theory,  hard  to  displace  in  the  dead  level 
of  a  democracy,  that  every  man,  whatever  his  training, 
is  equally  fitted  for  the  highest  and  most  technical  service 
the  state  can  demand,  and  all  that  is  necessary  to  trans- 
mute the  politician  into  the  statesman  is  a  popular 
vote,  or  to  transmute  the  citizen  into  the  jurist.  This 
democratic  faith  has  been  reenforced  by  two  other  miscon- 
ceptions. One  is  the  popular  view  that  a  lawyer's  voca- 
tion is  primarily  a  private  one,  and  that  the  sum  of  his 
duties  is  fidelity  to  his  client,  and  the  other,  that  curiously 
persistent  tradition  of  the  common  law,  that  the  citizen 
invested  with  judicial  office  has  at  his  command  an  unfail- 
ing and  infallible  source  of  legal  wisdom.  We  find  it 
hard  to  emancipate  ourselves  from  the  notion  that  the 
judge  pronounces  judgment  according  to  law.  I  do  not 
mean  that  is  the  usual  attitude  of  the  lawyer,  but  it  is 
the  attitude  of  the  community. 

Now,  as  is  the  lawyer,  so  is  the  court,  and  so  is  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice.  As  is  the  lawyer,  so  is  the  law. 
Then,  shall  we  submit  to  a  condition  of  affairs  under 
which  the  law  dispensed  from  our  courts  is,  as  it  has 
too  often  been,  the  result  of  purely  empirical  training, 
or,  in  many  cases,  of  no  training  at  all?  Shall  Wisdom 
sit  enthroned  in  the  judgment  seat  and  the  voice  of 
Wisdom  be  heard  in  the  judgments  of  the  courts?  We 
hear  much  of  the  declining  reverence  for  law,  and  lament 
the  growing  lack  of  respect  for  the  administration  of 
justice.  Perhaps  we  have  a  little  exaggerated  these  senti- 
ments, but  in  the  troublous  times  to  come  a  government 
of  laws  and  not  of  men  cannot  stand  unless  it  be  bulwarked 
on  every  hand  by  popular  faith  in  the  laws  and  respect 
for  their  administration.    And  how  is  this  faith  to  be 


GEORGE  W.  KIRCHWEY  193 

restored  or  maintained?  By  investing  our  judges  with 
judicial  robes,  or  by  educating  them  and  our  bar  so  that 
we  shall  have  real  justice  in  the  seat  of  justice? 

One  word  more.  I  am  the  guest  of  the  University  of 
Cincinnati  —  a  city  university,  the  only  one,  I  believe, 
in  this  country,  if  not  in  the  world.  It  is  a  high  distinc- 
tion. We  hear  much  criticism  in  these  days,  as  we  have 
heard  ever  since  higher  education  came  to  be  supported 
by  public  taxation,  of  maintaining  colleges,  and  even 
high  schools,  out  of  the  public  fund.  Let  me  say  that, 
if  the  state  were  to-day  to  make  a  beginning  of  public 
education,  it  should  be  made  with  the  university  and 
professional  schools  rather  than  with  the  elementary. 
For  what  is  needed  in  a  democracy  is  not  that  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  should  be  qualified  to  read  the 
yellow  journals,  but  that  leaders  should  be  made,  and 
leadership  comes  only  out  of  training,  and  particularly 
of  the  training  our  colleges  and  universities  and  pro- 
fessional schools  furnish. 

Believe  me,  gentlemen,  the  paramount  interest  of  the 
American  people  to-day  is  not  irrigation,  nor  the  con- 
servation of  forest  domains,  nor  the  Panama  Canal, 
nor  a  great  navy,  but  the  proper  training  of  the  profes- 
sion to  which  has  been  committed  the  high  function  of 
the  administration  of  justice  in  the  state.  I  venture  to 
predict  that  the  time  is  coming,  and  is  not  far  distant, 
when  in  this  country,  as  now  on  the  continent,  the  fact 
will  be  recognized  that  the  administration  of  justice  is 
an  affair  of  the  state.  Is  this  a  counsel  of  perfection  ? 
If  so,  then  I  have  come  to  the  proper  place  with  it.  Where 
are  counsels  of  perfection  to  be  nourished  if  not  in  our 
universities?    Oxford  has  been  called,  as  with  reproach, 


194  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

"the  home  of  lost  causes."  Is  it  a  reproach  for  a  great 
university  to  be  the  home  of  lost  causes?  Does  it  not 
depend  on  whether  the  causes  deserve  to  be  lost  ?  Will 
you  measure  the  success  or  influence  of  a  university  with 
your  commercial  tape  lines  ?  What  is  it  that  makes  the 
university  great  ?  Numbers  ?  Buildings  ?  Endowments  ? 
Or  is  it  the  causes  for  which  it  stands?  The  ideals  it 
represents?  The  standards  of  public  service  which  she 
holds  aloft? 


ATTORNEY  AND  CLIENT 

F.  CHARLES  HUME,  JR. 
Of  the  Houston,  Texas,  Bar 

(Extracts  from  an  after-dinner  speech  delivered  at  the  banquet 
of  the  American  Bar  Association,  Seattle,  Washington,  August  28, 
1008.) 

There  subsists  in  the  knowledge  of  men  no  more 
delightful  relation  than  that  of  attorney  and  client. 
And  there  is  none,  in  my  experience  —  save  matrimony 
—  more  difficult  of  establishment. 

Throughout  the  law  the  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
to  lead  to  justice.  And  to  our  profession  is  entrusted 
the  commission  to  control,  according  to  law,  the  tide  of 
human  affairs,  to  preserve  the  legal  status  of  men,  to 
hearken  to  "the  still  sad  music  of  humanity,"  to  voice 
the  spirit  of  truth,  and  silence  falsehood,  enforcing  right, 
redressing  wrong,  fearing  God  and  no  man. 

The  fault  is  not  in  our  profession,  but  in  ourselves,  if 


F.  CHARLES  HUME,  JR.  195 

we  be  underlings.  The  attorney  is  more  or  vastly  less.  His 
title  imports  integrity  and  conscientious  fidelity.  Within 
the  terms  alone  of  honorable  professional  engagement  he 
represents  and  stands  for  the  client's  interest.  But  he  is 
not  the  client,  not  even  his  own  client  —  except  in  cases 
more  to  be  pitied  than  cited.  Nor  is  he  the  keeper  of  the 
client's  general  conscience,  nor  his  guardian  at  large,  nor 
his  hireling,  nor  the  impresario  of  his  social  aspirations. 

Though  clients  come  and  clients  go,  in  turgid  or  in 
rippling  flow,  and  pass  your  open  door  forever  —  be 
comforted;  for  the  hand  of  little  employment  hath  the 
daintier  sense.  Let  the  temper  of  thy  days  be  philosophy, 
and  never  lose  it.  Take  what  comes  and  does  not  come 
with  equal  fortitude,  in  full  accord  and  satisfaction;  for 
contentment  is  better  than  riches  —  when  you  cannot 
have  riches. 

Under  all  circumstances,  keep  pure  and  warm  your 
ideals.  Don't  get  refrigerated.  And  in  the  end  your 
supreme  success  may  be  character;  for  merit  tells  —  too 
oft,  alas,  in  our  profession,  a  hard  luck  story.    Yet  — 


Though  gold  now  fail  us,  friends  bewail  us, 
Adverse  fate  be  ours,  and  fame's  delay; 

Though  courts  deny  us,  landlords  try  us, 
Yet,  to  surcease,  love  will  find  the  way." 


I 


And  through  its  tender  ministrations,  those  of  us  that 
now  but  thunder  in  the  professional  index  may  flash  — 
or  even  strike  —  conspicuous  yet  in  the  table  of  contents. 

Love  of  home  will  keep  us  steadfast.  Love  of  country 
will  inspire  us  to  defend  it  'gainst  all  perils  —  to  destroy, 
if  need  shall  come,  the  menace  of  "swollen  fortunes"  in 
the  hand  of  predatory  wealth  —  even  at  the  hazard  of 
making  them  our  own! 


196  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Love  of  woman  will  sustain  us,  keep  us  thinking,  keep 
us  busy,  and  will  urge  us  to  abate  the  nuisance  of  small 
fees.  And  love  of  law,  with  grim  devotion,  will  serve 
to  keep  us  moving  —  not,  peradventure,  from  place  to 
place,  unwilling  and  perplexed,  but  in  some  congenial 
spot  well  chosen  —  ever  upward  to  Olympian  heights  of 
nectarine  renown,  and  ever  inward  to  the  central  peace 
of  many  clients,  subsisting  at  the  heart  of  endless  litiga- 
tion—  the  profession's  unspoke  hope,  the  harmony  of 
the  world  —  which  the  higher  civilization,  that  we  may 
have  and  hold  a  local  habitation  and  a  name,  cannot 
suffer  to  perish  from  the  earth,  and  which  the  friends  that 
prize  us  must  not  willingly  let  die. 


THE  "GIVEN-UP"  MAN 

MAUD  BALLINGTON  BOOTH 
Of  the  Volunteers  of  America 

(Extract  from  an  address  in  "Little  Mother  Stories,"  published 
by  the  Volunteer  Prison  League.) 

When  we  look  out  over  the  lives  of  those  whose  souls 
have  been  soiled,  whose  talents  and  very  manhood  have 
been  prostituted  to  evil,  whose  hopes  and  chances  in 
life  are  blighted,  we  are  prone  to  be  hopeless  concerning 
their  future.  If  the  shadow  of  prison  walls  is  around 
them,  and  the  stigma  of  detected  crime  has  blackened 
their  name  and  character,  the  world  says  of  them,  "That 
man  is  done  for;  he  has  thrown  away  his  chances;  he  will 
never  make  anything  of  life  after  this."    If  he  be  one 


MAUD  BALLINGTON  BOOTH  197 

who  has  lived  long  in  crime,  who  has  been  especially 
reckless,  hardened  and  desperate  in  character,  one  for 
whom  no  one  has  a  good  word  and  who  has  been  but  a 
denizen  of  the  under-world,  then  the  world  will  indeed 
say  that  the  case  is  hopeless,  that  efforts  would  be  wasted 
in  trying  to  touch  the  hardened  heart  or  seeking  to  kindle 
the  star  of  hope  in  the  dark  night  that  has  closed  in 
around  the  "given-up"  man's  miserable  wreck  of  a  life. 
Fortunately,  the  world's  harsh  judgment  is  often  hasty, 
and  based  more  on  what  is  seen  of  the  difficulties  of  a 
situation  than  upon  the  possibilities  that  underlie  the 
surface.  1  j.     • 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  is  often  glibly  passed  from 
lip  to  lip  and  uttered  even  by  good  people,  who  would 
feel  deeply  incensed  if  charged  with  falsehood,  and  yet 
it  is  cruelly,  wickedly  false,  "Once  a  thief,  always  a  thief; 
once  a  convict,  always  a  convict."  When  first  I  under- 
took to  study  the  questions  that  involve  the  present  and 
future  welfare  of  our  country's  prisoners,  this  fallacy 
was  quoted  to  me  by  those  who  said  that  I  was  entering 
a  field  where  only  bitter  disappointment  and  failure 
awaited  me,  and  that  those  who  had  upon  them  the 
taint  of  crime  were  beyond  hope.  Then  it  was  that  my 
heart  gloried  in  the  fact  that  those  of  us  who  go  as  mes- 
sengers of  the  great  King  of  love  and  mercy  can  view 
the  poor,  sin-stained,  self-wrecked  lives  of  men  from  His 
standpoint,  and  not  from  that  of  the  world.  Beneath 
the  very  evident  failure  and  wrong,  we  may  look  deep 
down  in  the  poor,  hopeless  heart  for  the  bud  of  promise 
that,  all  unknown  to  themselves,  may  yet  be  awaiting 
the  touch  of  a  higher,  stronger  power  than  any  that  has 
yet  reached  them.    I  believed  when  I  first  went  to  a 


198  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

prison,  and  I  believe  a  hundredfold  more  intensely  now, 
that  in  every  human  heart  there  is  something  to  reach, 
and  that  there  is  an  Influence  above  that  will  step  in 
where  human  love  and  work  and  effort  could  not  avail 
to  bring  about  much-needed  awakening  and  unfold  a 
revelation  of  future  possibility.  Yes,  thank  God,  there 
is  a  sunshine  that  can  force  its  way  through  prison  bars 
and  work  wondrous  and  unexpected  miracles,  bringing 
forth  beauty  of  life,  earnestness  of  purpose,  and  a  genuine 
change  of  heart  where  such  results  seemed  the  most 
utterly  unlikely  and  impossible. 


THE  BROTHERHOOD  AND  HOME  MISSIONS 

WILLIAM  RADER 
Pastor  of  the  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church  of  San  Francisco 

(From  a  speech  delivered  at  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  before  the 
third  convention  of  the  Presbyterian  Brotherhood  of  America, 
February  24,  1909.) 

There  have  been  four  noticeable  conquests  of  America. 
The  first  was  that  of  the  pioneer  who  crossed  the  con- 
tinent when  there  was  no  bridge  over  the  river,  no  track 
through  the  desert,  no  path  through  the  forest.  He 
made  conquests  of  the  Indian  and  the  forest  and  the 
desert,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  this  great  republic. 
He  was  not  alone,  however,  in  his  pioneer  conquests  of 
physical  America.  Side  by  side  with  him  was  a  great 
figure  in  early  American  life  known  to  the  church  and 
history  as  the  home-missionary  preacher.     He  carried 


WILLIAM  RADER  199 

his  library  in  his  saddlebags  and  his  creed  like  a  flame  of 
fire  in  his  heart.  The  home-missionary  preacher,  riding 
across  the  frontier,  swimming  river  and  stream,  and 
threading  his  way  across  the  trackless  desert,  is  a  power- 
ful character  in  the  early  life  of  America.  It  was  he 
who  opened  the  Middle  West,  as  the  history  of  Clark 
and  Lewis  will  bear  witness;  it  was  he  who  saved  the 
great  Northwest,  and  particularly  Oregon,  to  this  coun- 
try, as  the  name  of  Marcus  Whitman  testifies.  Daniel 
Webster  is  reported  to  have  said  that  he  would  not  give 
a  dollar  for  the  whole  Northwest,  but  Daniel  Webster 
was  mistaken.  It  was  the  home  missionary  who  opened 
the  Golden  Gate  of  California,  and  with  his  flag  and 
Bible  laid  the  foundations  of  the  empire  of  the  Pacific. 
It  was  in  1852  that  Seward  declared  that  the  Pacific 
region  would  one  day  be  the  theater  of  the  world's  great- 
est events.  That  prophecy  has  already  come  true,  for 
the  world  events  of  the  immediate  future  are  even  now 
transpiring  in  that  Pacific  theater.  Once  it  was  three 
thousand  miles  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  Now 
it  is  three  thousand  miles  from  San  Francisco  to  New 
York.  Once  the  New  York  Harbor  was  the  front  door 
of  the  republic  and  the  Golden  Gate  was  the  back  yard, 
but  now  the  front  gate  is  by  the  city  of  San  Francisco, 
and  the  future  of  our  race  will  very  largely  be  solved  in 
the  events  which  are  to  transpire,  and  even  now  are 
transpiring,  in  the  great  Pacific  region. 

The  second  conquest  was  by  the  soldier  who  fought 
the  battles  of  the  nation,  the  Revolution  and  the  Rebel- 
lion. You  remember  that  minuteman  who  stands  in  his 
spotless  marble  at  Concord,  and  the  words  of  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson: 


200  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

"By  the  rude  bridge  that  arched  the  flood, 
Their  flag  to  April's  breeze  unfurled, 
Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

He  made  the  second  conquest  of  our  country. 

The  third  was  made  by  the  business  man  who  inaugu- 
rated the  great  commercial  and  business  era  of  our  people. 
He  built  bridges  and  railways,  digged  canals,  constructed 
cities,  and  shaped  the  business  destinies  of  the  people. 

The  next  conquest,  and  that  with  which  we  are  now 
engaged,  is  that  of  the  Christian  men.  The  most  signifi- 
cant sign  of  the  times  is  the  organized  revolt  of  Christian 
men  against  the  prevailing  materialism  of  our  day.  This 
is  one  of  the  assurances,  gentlemen,  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  surely  coming.  Weary  of  the  materialistic 
conditions  of  the  past,  the  men  of  the  pew  as  well  as  the 
men  of  the  pulpit  are  organizing  themselves  and  assaulting 
these  conditions  which  have  so  vitiated  our  common 
American  life.  In  doing  this  they  have  followed  the 
laws  of  nature.  The  stars  cluster  together,  the  great 
redwoods  of  the  Sierras  group  themselves,  the  fishes  of 
the  sea  swim  in  schools,  the  flowers  congregate  in  radiant 
clusters  of  splendor.  And  is  it  not  in  harmony  with 
this  law  that  we  men  of  this  generation  should  fulfil  the 
high  commission  of  our  Master  and  go  into  all  the  world 
and  dispel  all  the  evils  of  men?  Thank  God,  we  are 
beginning  to  work  heart  to  heart,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
mind  to  mind,  as  one  great  unbroken  army  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

I  wish  I  could  paint  the  home-missionary  picture  as 
I  see  it  upon  the  canvas  that  involves  this  great  con- 
tinent of  ours,  fringed  on  either  side  with  the  surf  of  the 


WASHINGTON  GARDNER  201 

sea.  I  would  crowd  into  that  canvas  over  eighty  mil- 
lions of  people,  with  their  teeming  cities.  I  would  put 
there  the  ten  millions  of  negroes,  the  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  Indians  who  have  been  driven  back  to 
the  reservations,  the  two  millions  of  children  at  work, 
the  sixty  to  seventy  thousand  children  who  go  hungry 
to  bed  every  night  in  New  York,  the  two  millions  in 
the  United  States  who  are  underfed,  the  vice  in  high 
places  and  low  places,  the  saloon,  the  great  streets  filled 
with  the  unchurched  masses  and  multitudes  of  souls 
going  to  their  ruin,  falling  like  a  tree  in  the  forest  with 
far-resounding  thunder.  Oh,  what  a  picture  for  the 
home-missionary  enterprise  of  the  church!  Over  it  all 
I  would  put  the  canopy  of  our  country's  flag,  that  flag 
that  was  raised  by  our  fathers  and  carried  across  these 
plains  and  through  the  Golden  Gate  and  planted  on  the 
islands  of  the  distant  Pacific,  that  dear  banner  of  our 
fathers!  O  men  of  America,  "Arise,  shine,  for  thy  light 
is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee." 


"IN  GOD  WE  TRUST" 

WASHINGTON  GARDNER 
Congressman  from  Michigan 

(Remarks  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives  March  16, 
1908,  the  House  having  under  consideration  a  bill  providing  for 
the  restoration  of  the  motto,  "In  God  we  Trust,"  on  certain  coins 
of  the  United  States.) 

Mr.  Speaker:  In  the  recent  successful  efforts  of  the 
police  of  Chicago  to  ferret  out  the  nesting  places  of  anarchy 


202  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

in  that  city,  it  was  found  that  in  the  literature  from  which 
their  children  were  taught  there  was  an  avowed  purpose 
to  banish  God  from  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation. 
Sir,  I  want  to  put  myself  on  record  as  against  the  purpose 
of  the  anarchists  in  this  as  in  all  other  respects. 

The  teaching  influence  and  the  rallying  power  of 
emblems  and  mottoes  have  been  recognized  in  all  ages 
and  by  all  nations.  As  a  rule  they  concrete  in  material 
form  or  express  in  briefest  language  some  great  thought 
or  purpose  or  movement  until  they  become  dear  to  the 
people  adopting  them.  The  origin  of  these  mottoes  and 
emblems  is  often  of  greatest  interest  and  lends  endearing 
influence  and  value. 

The  ignominious  cross  upon  which  was  consummated 
the  sublimest  sacrifice  in  human  history  is  to-day  the 
emblem  of  hope  to  unnumbered  millions  of  men  in  every 
quarter  of  the  earth.  The  sacrificial  wood  upon  which 
was  pinioned  the  body  of  the  Nazarene  has  been  glorified 
by  his  followers,  and  the  "In  hoc  signo  vinces"  moves  in 
resistless  march  to  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

The  flag  of  our  country  is  emblematical  of  all  we  hold 
dear  in  our  national  life.  Floating  as  it  does  over  the 
halls  of  legislation,  over  the  garrisons  of  our  soldiers,  the 
battle-ships  of  our  sailors,  and  the  schoolhouses  of  our 
children,  it  is  a  constant  reminder  not  only  of  a  glorious 
past,  but  an  inspiration  to  a  still  more  glorious  future, 
because  it  speaks  the  language  of  patriotic  devotion  and 
sacrifice  to  our  common  country. 

The  motto,  "In  God  we  trust,"  had  its  origin  during 
the  Civil  War.  It  is  one  of  the  heritages  of  that  gigantic 
struggle  between  two  sections  of  a  great  people  reading 
the  same  Bible  and  praying  to  the  same  God.    Happily 


NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS  203 

now  we  are  a  reunited  country,  and  the  heart  of  the 
people  still  goes  out  to  the  God  of  nations  as  of  individ- 
uals. We  of  the  North  join  hands  with  you  of  the  South 
and  say  your  God  is  our  God,  as  your  people  are  our 
people. 

The  fathers  who  founded  this  nation  had  faith  in  God. 
It  ill  becomes  their  sons  to  even  appear  to  turn  back  the 
hand  upon  the  dial  plate  of  time.  Were  it  a  question 
de  novo,  it  would  present  a  different  aspect.  But  we 
cannot  now  afford  to  have  the  childhood  and  youth  of 
the  nation  infer,  however  erroneous  that  inference  might 
be,  that  the  Congress  had  repudiated  the  faith  of  the 
fathers  or  attempted  to  becloud  that  of  their  children. 


VICTORIES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 
Pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  New  York  City 

(Extract  from  a  sermon  preached  November  21,  1909.) 

It  is  important  for  us  to  remember  that  the  greatest 
events  do  not  concern  tools,  foods,  or  battle-ships.  There 
are  forces  beyond  the  power  of  the  electric  spark,  and 
these  energies  are  invisible.  Niagara  appeals  to  the  eye, 
as  the  water  falls  down,  but  there  is  a  power  that  lifts 
the  sap  into  the  forest,  a  power  that  raises  bodily  into 
the  air  a  thousand  thousand  Niagaras,  and  that  energy 
is  unseen.  The  greatest  forces  in  the  world  are  spiritual 
ideas;  ideas  of  God,  duty,  love,  the  cross,  forgiveness, 
and    immortality.     These    ideas    enrich    the   intellect, 


204  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

deepen  the  affection,  wing  the  imagination,  fortify  the 
will,  and  make  great  souls  that  afterward  create  great 
civilizations. 

Of  a  truth  the  fulness  of  time  seems  to  have  come.  The 
Chinese  wall  has  fallen,  the  darkness  has  begun  to  lift 
from  Africa,  the  night  has  passed  for  the  South  Sea 
Islands;  we  have  the  hospitals,  the  schools,  the  printing- 
presses;  we  have  the  evangel  of  the  love  of  God  to  teach; 
we  have  the  men  and  the  women  ready  to  go ;  we  have  the 
money  to  send  them.  More  progress  is  being  made  now 
in  a  single  day  than  was  formerly  made  in  a  year;  more 
in  a  year  than  was  formerly  made  in  a  century.  Wise 
men  will  strike  hands  with  God's  providence  and  have 
a  part  in  this,  the  greatest  movement  that  is  now  on 
in  the  world.  Only  a  few  centers  of  light  are  needed, 
for  the  light  spreads.  Only  a  little  leaven  is  asked,  for 
the  leaven  works.  Two  or  three  physicians  and  teachers 
for  a  million  people;  God  and  time  and  truth  do  the 
rest.  Commerce  follows  the  flag,  but  the  flag  follows  the 
cross.  It  is  foolish  to  say  that  commerce,  tools,  and 
things  will  do  the  work.  Of  what  use  is  a  telescope  to 
a  Hottentot  ?  He  cannot  eat  it.  What  does  a  chemical 
laboratory  mean  to  an  Eskimo  ?  There  is  not  blubber  in 
the  retort.  Manhood  comes  first.  Make  the  hand 
strong  and  then  there  is  something  to  hold  the  tool. 
The  spring  of  all  invention  and  science  and  industry  is 
in  the  soul.  The  intellect  is  more  than  the  books  it 
writes;  the  imagination  is  more  than  the  arts  it  produces; 
conscience  comes  first,  then  follow  the  codes  and  the 
constitution.  Civilization  is  not  spun  out  of  iron 
threads;  civilization  is  a  gold  and  purple  cloth  spun  out 
of  threads  of  intellect,  heart,  and  conscience.    Ashamed 


JOSEPH  A.  McCULLOUGH  205 

of  Christianity?  As  soon  be  ashamed  of  the  omnipo- 
tence of  these  sunbeams  that  create  harvests  in  a  fruit- 
ful land. 


SANITATION  AND  RELIGION 

JOSEPH  A.   McCULLOUGH 
Of  the  Greenville  (S.  C.)  Bar 

(Extract  from  an  address  on  "The  Effect  of  Religious  Concep- 
tions upon  the  Science  and  Practise  of  Medicine,"  delivered  before 
the  graduating  class  of  the  Charleston  Medical  College,  April  11, 
1906.) 

As  a  result  of  the  triumph  of  sense  and  sanitation,  the 
death  rate  has  been  wonderfully  diminished  everywhere, 
plagues  and  epidemics  have  about  lost  their  terror,  and 
it  devolves  upon  the  young  man  of  to-day  to  still  further 
carry  on  the  work  of  the  fathers  until  germ  and  microbes 
shall  acknowledge  the  hand  of  the  master  of  science. 

In  the  American  pulpit,  preachers  are  preaching  the 
gospel  of  soap  and  water,  and  deaths  due  to  want  of 
sanitary  precautions  are  no  longer  dwelt  upon  in  funeral 
sermons  as  results  of  national  sin  or  as  "  inscrutable 
Providence,"  and  both  religious  press  and  pulpit  carry 
to  every  household  just  ideas  of  sanitary  precautions  and 
hygienic  living. 

Examples  like  Lord  Palmerston,  refusing  the  request 
of  the  Scotch  clergy  that  a  fast-day  be  appointed  to 
ward  off  cholera  and  advising  them  to  go  home  and  clean 
their  streets,  and  that  of  the  devout  William  the  Second, 
forbidding  prayer-meetings  in  a  similar  emergency  on 


206  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  ground  that  they  led  to  neglect  of  practical  human 
means  of  health,  are  in  striking  contrast  to  older  methods, 
and  the  position  even  of  the  Scotch  clergy  is  out  of  har- 
mony now  with  the  best  orthodox  thought. 

In  1893  an  eminent  divine  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Philadelphia  refused  to  respond  to  the  call  of 
the  bishop  of  Pennsylvania  that  special  prayers  be  offered 
in  order  to  ward  off  the  cholera,  declaring  that  to  do  so 
in  the  filthy  condition  of  the  streets  then  prevailing  in 
Philadelphia  would  be  blasphemous.  Men  have  obtained 
a  saner  conception  of  God  and  this  sanity  is  manifesting 
itself  in  art,  literature,  and  science.  Instead  of  scien- 
tific investigations  leading  the  world  from  God,  they 
have  brought  God  to  the  world.  He  is  imminent  in 
everything  —  in  the  physical  world,  in  all  history, 
and  in  religion.  Even  the  sacred  text  must  give  way 
to  Him,  and  its  value  is  becoming  more  and  more 
recognized  as  qualitative,  and  its  saving  power,  the 
truth  it  contains. 

Thoughtful  minds  and  devout  spirits  put  their  faith 
not  in  the  text  of  the  Scripture,  but  in  the  God  the  Scrip- 
tures reveal.  Just  as  the  telescope  is  useful  only  in  so 
far  as  it  reveals  the  star,  so  the  chief  religious  value  of 
the  Scriptures  is  that  they  reveal  God  and  religious  truth. 
Men  no  longer  worship  the  telescope,  but  the  sun  which 
it  reveals.  They  recognize  in  "natural  law"  the  order 
or  mode  in  which  events  are  occasioned  and  not  the 
cause  or  purpose  of  their  occurrence.  The  world  to-day 
realizes  more  fully  than  ever  before  the  existence  of  a 
supreme,  self-conscious  intelligence  which  forever  founds 
and  administers  the  order  of  the  world  in  all  of  its  depart- 
ments and  movements. 


JAMES  GIBBONS  fOf 

"Back  of  the  loaf  is  the  snowy  flour, 
Back  of  the  flour  the  mill; 
Back  of  the  mill  is  the  wheat  and  the  shower 
And  the  sun  and  the  Father's  will." 

This  conception  of  God  makes  all  truth  divine,  all 
law  holy,  all  history  sacred,  and  all  labor  equal  in  His 
sight.  When  you  apply  God's  remedies  as  found  in 
nature  to  the  cure  of  disease,  you  adopt  the  divine  plan; 
the  man  who  would  deny  their  efficacy  is  the  real  atheist, 
and  the  man  who  doubts  them  the  dangerous  sceptic. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

JAMES   GIBBONS 
Roman  Catholic  Cardinal,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Parliament  of 
Religions,  at  Chicago,  September  14,  1893.) 

The  gospel  of  Christ  as  propounded  by  the  Catholic 
Church  has  brought  not  only  light  to  the  intellect,  but 
comfort  also  to  the  heart.  It  has  given  us  "that  peace 
of  God  which  surpasseth  all  understanding,"  the  peace 
which  springs  from  the  conscious  possession  of  truth. 
It  has  taught  us  how  to  enjoy  that  triple  peace  which 
constitutes  true  happiness,  as  far  as  it  is  attainable  in 
this  life  —  peace  with  God  by  the  observance  of  His 
commandments,  peace  with  our  neighbor  by  the  exercise 
of  charity  and  justice  toward  him,  and  peace  with  our- 
selves by  repressing  our  inordinate  appetites,  and  keep- 
ing our  passions  subject  to  the  law  of  reason,  and  our 
reason  illumined  and  controlled  by  the  law  of  God. 


208  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

All  other  religious  systems  prior  to  the  advent  of 
Christ  were  national,  like  Judaism,  or  state  religions, 
like  Paganism.  The  Catholic  religion  alone  is  world- 
wide and  cosmopolitan,  embracing  all  races  and  nations 
and  peoples  and  tongues. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  taught  man  the  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  himself;  she  has  brought  comfort  to  his 
heart  by  instructing  him  to  bear  the  ills  of  life  with 
Christian  philosophy;  she  has  sanctified  the  marriage 
bond;  she  has  proclaimed  the  sanctity  and  inviolability 
of  human  life  from  the  moment  that  the  body  is  ani- 
mated by  the  spark  of  life  till  it  is  extinguished;  she 
has  founded  asylums  for  the  training  of  children  of  both 
sexes,  and  for  the  support  of  the  aged  poor;  she  has  estab- 
lished hospitals  for  the  sick  and  homes  for  the  redemption 
of  fallen  women;  she  has  exerted  her  influence  toward  the 
mitigation  and  abolition  of  human  slavery;  she  has  been 
the  unwavering  friend  of  the  sons  of  toil.  These  are 
some  of  the  blessings  which  the  Catholic  Church  has 
conferred  on  society. 

I  will  not  deny  —  on  the  contrary,  I  am  happy  to 
avow  —  that  the  various  Christian  bodies  outside  the 
Catholic  Church  have  been,  and  are  to-day,  zealous 
promoters  of  most  of  these  works  of  Christian  benevolence 
which  I  have  enumerated.  Not  to  speak  of  the  innumer- 
able humanitarian  houses  established  by  our  non-Cath- 
olic brethren  throughout  the  land,  I  bear  cheerful  testi- 
mony to  the  philanthropic  institutions  founded  by  Wilson, 
by  Shepherd,  by  Johns  Hopkins,  Enoch  Pratt,  and  George 
Peabody,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  But  will  not  our 
separated  brethren  have  the  candor  to  acknowledge  that 
we  had  first  possession  of  the  field,  that  these  beneficent 


JAMES  GIBBONS  209 

movements  have  been  inaugurated  by  us,  and  that  the 
other  Christian  communities,  in  their  noble  efforts  for 
the  moral  and  social  regeneration  of  mankind,  have  in 
no  small  measure  been  stimulated  by  the  example  and 
emulation  of  the  ancient  Church? 

Let  us  do  all  we  can  in  our  day  and  generation  in  the 
cause  of  humanity.  Every  man  has  a  mission  from  God 
to  help  his  fellow-beings.  Though  we  differ  in  faith, 
thank  God  there  is  one  platform  on  which  we  stand 
united,  and  that  is  the  platform  of  charity  and  benevo- 
lence. We  cannot,  indeed,  like  our  Divine  Master,  give 
sight  to  the  blind,  hearing  to  the  deaf,  speech  to  the 
dumb,  and  strength  to  the  paralyzed  limb,  but  we  can 
work  miracles  of  grace  and  mercy  by  relieving  the  dis- 
tress of  our  suffering  brethren.  And  never  do  we  approach 
nearer  to  our  Heavenly  Father  than  when  we  alleviate  the 
sorrows  of  others.  Never  do  we  perform  an  act  more 
Godlike  than  when  we  bring  sunshine  to  hearts  that  are 
dark  and  desolate.  Never  are  we  more  like  to  God  than 
when  we  cause  the  flowers  of  joy  and  of  gladness  to  bloom 
in  souls  that  were  dry  and  barren  before.  "Religion," 
says  the  apostle,  "pure  and  undefiled  before  God  and 
the  Father,  is  this:  To  visit  the  fatherless  and  widow  in 
their  tribulation,  and  to  keep  one's  self  unspotted  from 
the  world."  Or,  to  borrow  the  words  of  pagan  Cicero, 
"There  is  no  way  by  which  man  can  approach  nearer  to 
the  gods  than  by  contributing  to  the  welfare  of  their 
fellow  creatures." 


210  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  NEW  RELIGION 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT 
Former  President  of  Harvard  University 

(Extract  from  a  discourse  before  the  Harvard  Summer  School 
of  Theology,  1909.) 

The  new  religion  affords  an  indefinite  scope  or  range 
for  progress  and  development.  It  rejects  all  the  limita- 
tions of  family,  tribal,  or  national  religion.  It  is  not 
bound  to  any  dogma,  creed,  book,  or  institution.  It  has 
the  whole  world  for  the  field  of  the  loving  labors  of  its 
disciples,  and  its  fundamental  precept  of  serviceableness 
admits  an  infinite  variety  and  range  in  both  times  and 
space.  It  is  very  simple,  and  therefore  possesses  an 
important  element  of  durability.  It  is  the  complicated 
things  that  get  out  of  order.  Its  symbols  will  not  relate 
to  sacrifice  or  dogma,  but  it  will  doubtless  have  symbols 
which  will  represent  its  love  of  liberty,  truth,  and  beauty. 
It  will  also  have  social  rites  and  reverent  observances, 
for  it  will  wish  to  commemorate  the  good  thoughts  and 
deeds  which  have  come  down  from  former  generations. 

It  will  have  its  saints,  but  its  canonizations  will  be 
based  on  grounds  somewhat  new.  It  will  have  its  heroes, 
but  they  must  have  shown  a  loving,  disinterested,  or 
protective  courage.  It  will  have  its  communions,  with 
the  Great  Spirit,  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  and 
with  living  fellowmen  of  like  minds.  Working  together 
will  be  one  of  its  fundamental  ideas  —  of  men  with  God, 
of  men  with  prophets,  leaders,  and  teachers;  of  men  with 
one  another,  of  men's  intelligence  with  the  forces  of 


CHARLES  W.  ELIOT  211 

nature.  It  will  teach  only  such  uses  of  authority  as  are 
necessary  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  several  or  many 
people  to  one  end,  and  the  discipline  it  will  advocate 
will  be  training  in  the  development  of  cooperative  good- 
will. 

The  new  religion  proposes  as  a  basis  of  unity  first,  its 
doctrine  of  an  immanent  and  loving  God,  and,  secondly, 
by  its  precept:  Be  serviceable  to  fellowmen.  Already 
there  are  many  signs  in  the  free  countries  of  the  world 
that  different  religious  denominations  can  unite  in  good 
work  to  promote  human  welfare.  The  support  of  hos- 
pitals, dispensaries,  and  asylums  by  persons  connected 
with  all  sorts  of  religious  denominations  in  carrying  on 
associated  charities  in  large  cities,  the  success  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  the  numerous 
efforts  to  form  federations  of  kindred  churches  for  prac- 
tical purposes,  all  testify  to  the  feasibility  of  extensive 
coSperation  in  good  works.  Again,  the  new  religion 
cannot  create  any  caste,  ecclesiastical  class,  or  exclusive 
sect,  founded  on  a  rite.  On  these  grounds  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  imagine  that  the  new  religion  will 
prove  a  unifying  influence  and  a  strong  reinforcement 
of  democracy.  , 

Whether  it  will  prove  as  efficient  to  deter  men  from 
doing  wrong  and  to  encourage  them  to  do  right  as  the 
prevailing  religions  have  been,  is  a  question  which  only 
experience  can  answer.  In  these  two  respects  neither 
the  threats  nor  the  promises  of  the  older  religions  have 
been  remarkably  successful  in  society  at  large.  The  fear 
of  hell  has  not  proved  effective  to  deter  men  from  wrong- 
doing, and  heaven  has  never  yet  been  described  in  terms 
very  attractive  to  the  average  man  or  woman.    Both 


212  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

are  indeed  unimaginable.  The  great  geniuses,  like  Dante 
and  Swedenborg,  have  only  produced  fantastic  and  incred- 
ible pictures  of  either  state. 

The  modern  man  would  hardly  feel  any  appreciable 
loss  of  motive  power  toward  good  or  away  from  evil,  if 
heaven  were  burnt  and  hell  quenched.  The  prevailing 
Christian  conceptions  of  heaven  and  hell  have  hardly 
any  more  influence  with  educated  people  in  these  days 
than  Olympus  and  Hades  have.  The  modern  mind 
craves  an  immediate  motive  or  leading,  good  for  to-day 
on  this  earth.  The  new  religion  builds  on  the  actual 
experience  of  men  and  women  and  of  human  society  as  a 
whole.  The  motive  powers  it  relies  on  have  been,  and 
are,  at  work  in  innumerable  human  lives;  and  its  beatific 
visions  and  its  hopes  are  better  grounded  than  those  of 
traditional  religion  and  finer  —  because  free  from  all 
selfishness,  and  from  the  imagery  of  governments,  courts, 
social  distinctions,  and  war. 

Finally,  this  twentieth  century  religion  is  not  only  to 
be  in  harmony  with  the  great  secular  movements  of 
modern  society  —  democracy,  individualism,  social  ideal- 
ism, the  zeal  for  education,  the  spirit  of  research,  the 
modern  tendency  to  welcome  the  new,  the  fresh  powers 
of  preventive  medicine  and  the  recent  advances  in  busi- 
ness and  industrial  ethics  —  but  also  in  essential  agree- 
ment with  the  direct  personal  teachings  of  Jesus,  as  they 
are  reported  in  the  Gospels.  The  revelation  he  gave  to 
mankind  thus  becomes  more  wonderful  than  ever. 


CHARLES  H.  PARKHURST  213 


"THE  NEW  RELIGION":  A  CRITICISM 

CHARLES  H.   PARKHURST 

Pastor  of  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York  City 

(Extract  from  a  sermon  delivered  in  the  Madison  Square  Pres- 
byterian Church,  New  York  city,  October  24,  1909.) 

Any  man  who  knows  anything,  unless  he  knows  it  in 
a  very  modest  way,  is  liable  to  think  that  he  knows  more 
than  he  does.  Human  nature  is  peculiar,  and  we  all 
have  it. 

This  tendency,  illustrated  by  the  distinguished  ex-presi- 
dent of  Harvard  University,  of  attempting  to  sound  the 
depths  of  spiritual  reality  with  the  plumb-line  of  scientific 
thought,  is  not  a  new  one,  and  proceeds  upon  the  false 
assumption  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  too  fine 
to  escape  the  detection  and  the  appreciation  of  disci- 
plined intellect.  There  is  a  great  deal  that  comes  into 
life  which  never  entered  there  along  any  logical  roadway 
of  refined  and  exquisite  thinking.  The  heart  too  has 
reasons  of  which  the  brain  knows  nothing.  Discipline 
of  a  certain  kind  disqualifies,  more  than  it  qualifies,  for 
the  discovery  of  the  best  which  life  has  to  give  and  the 
best  which  it  is  competent  to  receive.  There  is  a  close 
kind  of  ratiocination  which,  while  it  opens  the  smaller 
doors  of  discovery,  slams  to  with  a  bang  doors  that  are 
larger.  A  man  whose  principle  function  of  discernment 
is  of  the  cerebral  order  will  create  for  himself  and  for 
others  a  world  whose  very  flatness  makes  it  easily  intel- 
ligible and  the  simplicity  of  whose  arrangements  makes 


214  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

facile  appeal  to  the  unambitious  sense  of  what  is  system- 
atized and  methodical;  but  such  a  world  is  not  an  inter- 
esting world.  It  is  not  a  world  that  nourishes  long 
thoughts,  high  aims,  and  the  sweetest  nobility  of  life. 
It  takes  clouds  as  well  as  transparent  sunshine  to  make 
out  God's  world,  and  stars  to  glimmer  in  the  firmament 
as  well  as  candles  and  lanterns  to  shed  ambiguous  patches 
of  light  on  the  ground,  in  order  to  complete  a  universe 
that  will  measure  up  the  requirements  of  the  soul.  In 
the  natural  world  the  best  part  of  any  landscape  is  that 
point  along  the  edge  of  the  world  where  the  things  that 
are  visible  shade  off  and  melt  away  into  the  unseen. 

The  fault  with  the  kind  of  religious  philosophizing  to 
which  we  have  recently  been  treated  is  that  it  imprisons 
the  spirit  within  a  horizon  that  is  near  and  that  is  so 
sharply  lined  as  to  discourage  suspicion  that  there  is 
much  of  anything  beyond  the  horizon.  And  a  small  fiat 
world  makes  small,  flat  souls.  A  world  furnished  with 
no  broad  ocean  transforms  human  spirits  into  patches 
of  Sahara.  It  is  therefore  that  history,  when  it  has 
moved  forward,  has  moved  under  the  shepherding  guid- 
ance of  men  and  women  whose  presentiments  outran  the 
slow  pace  of  analytical  thought,  and  whose  experiences 
were  able  to  maintain  themselves  at  an  altitude  to  which 
unwinged  logic  was  incompetent  to  soar.  The  great 
things  of  the  past  centuries  have  been  done  at  the  impulse 
and  inspiration  of  convictions  and  experiences  for  which 
there  is  no  place  allowed  in  the  four-cornered  scheme  of 
the  Cambridge  oracle.  Our  Teutonic  ancestors  were 
brought  out  of  the  woods  into  civilization  by  men  whose 
consciences  grasped  upon  a  higher  law  than  any  enacted 
by  the  legislature  of  nature  and  whose  fealty  was  to  the 


CHARLES  H.  PARKHURST  215 

same  Christ  that  transformed  Saul  into  Paul,  and  that 
has  been  the  presiding  genius  of  those  souls  that  have 
shone  with  the  warmest  fervor  and  the  purest  light 
during  all  these  centuries. 

With  as  hard,  bloodless,  and  visionless  a  philosophy  as 
has  just  been  oracularly  offered  to  our  acceptance  we 
should  have  no  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  no 
Salvation  Army,  no  missionaries  wearing  out  their  lives 
on  the  frontier  or  making  their  blood  an  offering  on  the 
altar  of  Christian  sacrifice.  Said  to  me,  recently,  the 
secretary  of  one  of  our  foreign  missionary  boards,  "We 
have  thousands  of  missionaries  that  leave  home  and 
comforts  behind  them  to  go  abroad  and  preach  a  Christed 
gospel,  but  I  have  no  record  of  anyone  who  has  the 
enthusiasm  to  go  to  the  heathen  and  proclaim  to  them  a 
Christless  philosophy."  A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits. 
The  test  of  value  is  its  producing  energy.  The  sweetest 
thoughts  embalmed  in  literature,  the  finest  lives  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  human  biography,  the  most  thrilling 
passages  in  the  progress  of  the  world's  history,  have 
been  God's  gift  to  the  world  through  His  son,  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Lord.  By  every  argument  deducible  from  the  past, 
by  every  reason  derivable  from  the  tenderest  and  strongest 
experience  of  those  whose  vision  has  pressed  most  deeply 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  spiritual  world,  our  loving  faith 
cannot  falter  in  its  loyalty  to  the  Divine  Christ.  By 
Him  we  stand  and  to  Him  will  we  continue  to  render  the 
tribute  of  our  love  and  confidence,  our  service  and  our 
praise. 


2l6  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  PRACTISE  OF  IMMORTALITY 

WASHINGTON  GLADDEN 

Author  and  Lecturer;  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Columbus,  Ohio 

The  only  way,  I  think,  to  get  any  firm  assurance  of 
any  of  the  great  fundamental  facts  of  life,  is  not  to  try 
to  prove  them  by  what  you  call  scientific  evidence,  but 
to  assume  them  and  build  your  life  on  them. 

Foundations  are  always  assumed.  There  is  not  a  build- 
ing in  the  world  which  has  not  been  obliged  to  accept 
its  foundation.  It  rests  on  the  earth.  It  depends  for 
its  stability  on  the  stability  of  the  earth.  No  builder 
can  find  or  fashion  any  other  foundation  for  his  build- 
ing than  that  which  the  earth  gives  him.  After  all  his 
digging  and  blasting  and  boring  he  must  finally  trust 
the  earth.  If  we  cannot  trust  the  earth  he  cannot  build. 
If  his  building  stands,  the  final  reason  will  be  that  the 
earth  sustains  it. 

Just  as  the  foundations  of  our  architecture  are  assumed, 
so  are  the  foundations  of  our  science.  Science  begins 
with  an  assumption,  with  something  that  cannot  be 
proved,  with  what  Mr.  Huxley  calls  a  "  great  arc  of 
faith."  Science  cannot  stir  a  step  without  taking  for 
granted  what  can  never  be  proved  —  the  uniformity  of 
natural  law.  That  is  the  one  great  fact  of  science,  the 
one  underlying,  over-arching,  all-encompassing,  archi- 
tectonic, scientific  truth  —  but  it  is  impossible  to  prove 
it;  the  scientist  just  believes  it,  takes  it  for  granted,  and 
goes  ahead  with  his  investigations  as  if  he  were  perfectly 


WASHINGTON  GLADDEN  217 

sure  of  it.  It  is  by  assuming  it  that  he  becomes  sure  of 
it.  If  he  would  not  proceed  until  he  had  demonstrated 
it,  science  would  be  at  an  end. 

In  the  same  manner,  as  we  have  seen  in  other  studies, 
the  only  way  to  be  sure  of  God  is  to  assume  his  constant 
presence  in  our  lives  and  live  accordingly.  That  will 
make  any  man  sure  of  him.  The  foundation  of  religion, 
as  of  science,  is  an  assumption.  It  is  no  more  unreason- 
able to  begin  religion  by  taking  God  for  granted  than 
it  is  to  begin  in  science  by  taking  the  uniformity  of  law 
for  granted.  It  is  no  more  unphilosophical  to  assume 
that  reason  and  goodness  and  love  are  universal  than 
to  assume  that  order  and  law  are  universal.  No  man 
can  prove  the  one  by  logic  or  scientific  evidence  any 
more  than  he  can  prove  the  other,  but  any  man  who  will 
assume  that  love  is  infinite  and  omnipresent  and  omnipo- 
tent; that  it  rules  the  universe;  that  it  waits  at  every 
portal  of  sense  and  spirit  to  bring  him  light  and  joy  and 
liberty;  any  man  who  will  assume  that  this  is  true  and 
build  his  life  upon  it  will  know  by  an  experience  which 
all  the  logic  in  the  world  cannot  confute  that  God  is, 
and  that  He  is  the  rewarder  of  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  Him.  To  his  intellect  as  well  as  to  his  heart  this 
confidence  will  bring  repose. 


2l8  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE   BIBLE  AND  THE  TWENTIETH-CENTURY 

MAN 

FRANK  W.   GUNSAULUS 

President  of  Armour  Institute 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
New  York,  August  17,  1909.) 

Let  us  be  willing  to  come  to  the  Bible  as  men  of  the 
twentieth  century,  with  certain  facts  that  are  true,  Bible 
or  no  Bible;  and  with  a  certain  outlook  that  is  not  the 
outlook  of  the  clergy  or  of  the  church,  but  of  humanity. 
If  this  Bible  is  what  we  believe  it  to  be,  the  record 
of  the  revelation  of  God  in  humanity  through  a  people 
peculiarly  religious,  it  has  a  unity  and  a  grandeur  that 
are  without  dispute,  that  will  disclose  themselves  even 
in  spite  of  opinions  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Bible 
that  have  obtained  in  times  past. 

The  man  of  the  twentieth  century,  with  the  political 
economy,  psychology,  and  science  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, need  not  depend  upon  church  councils  to  believe 
in  the  spiritual  truth  of  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis. 
It  is  a  fact  that  man  begins  in  naturalism.  It  is  not 
true  because  it  is  in  the  Bible,  but  it  is  in  the  Bible  be- 
cause it  is  true.  This  is  not  an  Eden  of  the  past,  but 
of  the  present.  Your  baby  is  in  Eden.  The  rivers  that 
watered  your  life  came  out  of  the  ground.  The  river 
that  waters  the  early  life  of  a  human  being,  that  is,  the 
motive  power,  is  earthly.  The  child  does  what  he  does 
for  reasons  of  earth.  He  belongs  to  the  earth.  His 
Eden  is  a  delight  to  him.    We  need  not  worry  about  the 


FRANK  W.  GUNSAULUS  219 

doctrine  of  total  depravity  that  lifts  its  scarred  head  in 
your  mind  as  I  speak.  Total  depravity  as  a  doctrine  is 
total  nonsense.  If  my  watch  is  depraved  it  so  much  less 
is  a  watch,  and  if  it  is  totally  depraved  it  is  no  watch. 

Coming  out  of  man's  earthly  life  there  are  certain 
motives  that  come  into  the  form  of  the  will  of  Adam. 
Man  has  a  great  choice  between  the  tree  of  life  and  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  The  tree  of  life 
represents  the  life  of  obedience  and  absolute  trust.  Then 
there  is  the  other  tree.  In  accord  with  modern  psychology 
and  the  psychology  of  the  Bible  there  comes  another 
voice.  You  can  be  as  God's.  It  is  the  argument  of 
ambition.  The  only  way  that  one  may  eat  of  the  tree 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  is  by  experiencing 
the  difference  between  good  and  evil.  The  moment  that 
argument  is  used  to  the  intellect,  Hamlet  has  come,  the 
rationalist  is  born.  I  do  not  stop  to  ask  about  the  neces- 
sity of  this  fall  of  man.  It  is  a  fact  in  man's  moral  expe- 
rience. Here  is  man  with  his  Eden  lost,  but  he  is  man 
still.  Your  mythical  Prometheus,  the  work  of  the  daring 
intellect  of  humanity,  abides  in  the  present  history  of 
human  nature.  The  Eden  of  Adam  was  the  Eden 
of  innocence,  of  inexperience,  of  ignorance;  but  it  was 
Eden,  and  many  people  are  longing  to  go  back  to  it. 
But  the  modern  man  who  reasons  the  facts  in  the  case 
knows  that  after  Adam  has  lost  his  Eden  there  are  cer- 
tain facts  left.  One  is  man,  and  one  is  God.  God  is 
still  God.  He  made  man  and  man  is  still  God's  child. 
Since  man  is  man  and  God  is  God,  there  is  no  change  in 
the  necessity  that  man  shall  have  a  river.  Must  there 
not  still  be  motive  power?  Nor  is  there  anything  in  his 
experience  that  removes  the  necessity  for  the  tree  of 


220  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

life.  But  the  angel  stands  with  the  flaming  sword. 
When  innocence  is  gone,  it  is  gone  forever.  The  students 
of  humanity,  like  George  Eliot,  or  Shakespeare,  know  that 
to  return  to  a  lost  innocence  is  impossible.  But  I  will 
have  no  theology,  no  Bible,  that  does  not  help  in  three 
things:  God  must  keep  His  word  with  me  though  I  have 
lost  my  Eden;  I  must  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  because  that 
is  the  only  way  to  live;  I  must  have  a  moral  motive 
power,  the  river  of  life. 

In  the  history  of  religion,  of  man's  effort  to  get  to 
himself,  this  means  that  there  have  been  motive  powers 
coming  from  the  church  to  help  man  toward  justice 
and  righteousness.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  temple, 
the  church,  has  been  a  half-way  place  of  the  utmost 
importance;  but  what  man  must  have,  if  we  have  lost 
God,  is  not  an  embodiment  in  a  temple,  but  an  incar- 
nation, a  personality.  The  garden  was  individualism, 
and  man  lost  it  through  individual  selfishness.  What 
ever  he  gains  he  must  gain  through  self-sacrifice. 
Whatever  lies  beyond  must  be  social.  What  lies  before 
man  after  an  experience  of  that  sort  is  a  holy  city  as 
revealed  in  Revelations. 


CHRISTIANITY  IS  REAL 

WILLIAM  H.   P.   FAUNCE 
President  of  Brown  University 

(Condensed  from  an  address  at  Chautauqua,  New  York,  August 
19,  1909.) 

The  Christian  religion  is  not  an  adornment  or  decora- 
tion of  life.    It  is  not  a  pillow  for  the  last  hour,  a  form 


WILLIAM  H.  P.  FAUNCE  221 

of  insurance  for  the  future  world.  It  is  not  a  skilful 
argument.  It  is  the  sustenence  of  the  true  life.  It  is 
the  bread  of  God  that  cometh  down  from  heaven.  No 
man  ever  came  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  last 
step  in  a  course  of  reasoning  any  more  than  a  man  believes 
in  his  mother  in  that  way.  He  believes  in  his  mother 
because  such  belief  satisfies  the  deepest  longings  and 
instincts  of  his  nature,  because  he  can  explain  more 
things  by  belief  in  her  than  by  doubting  her. 

The  question  is  not  whether  Christianity  is  true,  but 
whether  it  is  real.  Have  the  ideals  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment been  a  real  source  of  moral  energy  to  the  world 
to-day?  When  I  say  anything  is  real  I  mean  that  I  can 
perceive  it,  that  I  have  perceived  it,  that  others  may  per- 
ceive it,  and  that  belief  in  it  brings  more  satisfaction 
than  its  denial  could  bring. 

The  reality  of  God  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  noblest  souls  have  perceived  his  presence  in  the 
world.  I  have  perceived  that  presence  in  my  best  hours 
when  passion  was  hushed  and  truth  was  clear.  It  satis- 
fies my  hunger.  It  is  bread,  not  to  be  demonstrated,  but 
to  be  assimilated  and  brought  into  life.  The  people 
who  are  offering  Biblical  criticism,  or  sociology,  or  meta- 
physics in  place  of  religion  are  offering  the  chemical 
formulae  in  place  of  the  life-giving  bread. 

Two  needs  that  the  Christian  religion  supplies  are  a 
perception  of  the  spiritual  meaning  behind  the  changing 
world  and  a  support  for  our  ideals.  The  Christian  relig- 
ion says  that  the  world  has  been  thought  through  by  an 
Intelligence,  and  bids  us  speak  to  that  Intelligence  as  a 
father. 

The  reason  that  Christianity  was  first  rejected  by 


222  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Romans  was  that  they  declined 
to  accept  the  Christian  ideal  of  manhood  and  womanhood. 
The  life  of  the  active  world  to-day  is  an  attack  upon  a 
young  man's  ideals.  College  life  also  is  a  very  active 
life  to-day,  and  the  important  thing  is  that  the  freshman 
shall  be  able  to  keep  his  ideals.  Many  a  man  gains 
prizes,  wins  honors,  and  public  applause,  but  loses  his 
ideals.  Most  of  us  go  out  into  life  with  our  ideals  clear. 
We  want  to  see  the  religious  freedom  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  the  political  freedom  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, followed  by  economic  freedom  in  the  twentieth 
century.  We  want  to  see  righteousness  dawn  in  the 
halls  of  Congress.  The  idea  of  a  certain  United  States 
senator,  publicly  expressed  a  dozen  years  or  so  ago,  that 
"the  purification  of  politics  is  an  iridescent  dream,"  is 
now  a  dead  idea. 

All  over  this  country  there  are  young  men  who  are 
devoting  themselves  to  the  purification  of  this  republic. 
I  know  many  of  them,  and  I  know  that  the  foundation 
of  their  political  idealism  is  their  religious  belief.  They 
believe  that  American  ideals  can  be  saved  because  they 
believe  in  a  God  behind  our  life.  Christianity  is  the 
only  power  in  the  modern  world  that  can  keep  us  from 
despair. 


BALLINGTON  BOOTH  223 


WITHOUT  GOD  IS  NOTHING 

BALLINGTON  BOOTH 
President  of  the  Volunteers  of  America 

(Extracts  from  his  annual  address  to  the  Grand  Field  Council 
of  the  Volunteers  of  America,  at  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York  city, 
October  30,  1905.) 

«. 

There  is  a  French  adage,  "Sans  Dieu  Rien"  —  Without 
God  is  nothing.  When  we  look  abroad  upon  the  earth, 
wheresoever  we  turn  our  eyes,  we  are  forced  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  divine  influence.  When  we  gaze  upon  the 
ocean  storm  as  the  wind-lashed  waves  vie  with  one 
another  in  height  and  strength,  churning  the  foam  upon 
their  angry  crests,  causing  one  to  feel  one's  helplessness 
in  their  presence,  one  is  impressed  with  the  distance 
between  human  and  divine  strength.  As  one  witnesses 
the  steady  descent  of  the  sun  at  eventide,  as  all  nature  is 
bathed  in  its  crimson  glory,  to  leave  its  rich  afterglow  to 
tint  the  sky  with  its  fading  light,  one  marvels  at  the 
matchless  touch  of  the  divine  painter.  As  one  beholds 
the  lurid  lightning  sundering  the  heavens,  and  listens  to 
the  crash  of  the  thunderbolt  and  the  rumble  of  heaven's 
artillery  as  it  echoes  and  reverberates  in  the  distant 
hills,  one  is  brought  to  recognize  how  puny  is  the  arm 
of  man  before  the  arm  of  Omnipotence.  In  all  these, 
as  in  other  elements  of  nature,  one  is  led  to  exclaim,  in 
the  language  of  the  French  adage,  "Without  God  is 
nothing." 

When  the  needle  has  lost  its  magnetism,  it  ceases  to 
point  to  the  north  as  a  guide  to  the  mariner  dependent 


224  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

upon  its  accuracy,  and  if  our  spirits  have  lost  their  divine 
magnetism  or  inspiration,  we  shall  cease  to  point  men  to 
the  cross  of  Calvary.  This  is  our  power,  oh,  brethren! 
this  is  our  power,  and  to  be  weak  in  any  degree  in 
this  essential  is,  proportionately,  to  lose  our  grip  upon 
the  masses.  But  with  eye,  heart,  and  lips  under  the 
influence  of  divine  emotion,  and  on  fire  with  passion  for 
souls,  we  shall  succeed.  Like  George  Whitefield,  we  shall 
be  so  inspired  that  we  can  preach  as  "Thus  and  thus  saith 
the  Lord,"  until  men  unite  in  the  cry,  "Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?"  Like  Jonathan  Edwards, 
we  can  enforce  the  old  truths  of  the  Bible  so  that  even 
skeptical  men  cannot  cavil  at  their  veracity.  Like  Charles 
Spurgeon,  we  can  so  represent  the  sweetness  of  the  Gospel 
that  our  expectant  hearers  shall  be  charmed  with  the 
story  of  the  cross.  Like  Charles  Finney,  we  shall  be 
able  to  so  prick  men's  consciences  with  the  logic  of  the 
truth  that  they  will  become  aroused  from  their  lethargy 
and  indifference. 

It  is  commonly  supposed  that  the  tree  in  its  comely 
and  mature  appearance,  as  it  waves  its  branches  in  the 
broad  expanse  and  spreads  out  its  living  green  toward 
heaven,  receives  its  strength  from  the  ground.  But  a 
great  scientist  has  reminded  us  that  whilst  this  is  in  a 
measure  true,  yet  its  primary  growth,  strength,  and  glory 
are  received  from  above,  not  beneath.  The  tendency  of 
the  soil,  darkness,  and  nourishment  beneath  is  all  in  the 
direction  of  forcing  the  tree  upward  into  the  world  above, 
which  is  the  object  of  its  life,  where  the  light  and  warmth 
of  the  sun,  the  breezes  and  dews  of  the  summer,  and 
storms  and  frosts  of  winter,  all  in  turn  add  to  its  power 
of  endurance  and  its  grandeur  of  majestic  beauty.    In 


BALLINGTON  BOOTH  225 

the  depths  of  the  ground  it  spreads  its  grim  and  distorted 
roots  surrounded  by  what  is  least  comely  to  the  eye, 
while  aloft  in  sight  of  all  beholders,  it  reveals  its  stately 
boughs,  its  fairy-like  leaves  and  fragrant  blossoms.  So, 
my  brethren,  though  you  and  I  may  be  laboring  among 
those  in  the  under  world  who  are  the  least  thankful  or 
the  least  just,  among  those  who  are  the  most  unloved 
or  the  most  unlovely,  whose  surroundings  may  be  like  the 
dark  and  dank  deeps  of  a  moat,  yet  we  can  ever  be  lift- 
ing our  hearts  above  these  masses  of  difficulties  —  these 
social  roots  and  water-logged  leaves  —  to  enjoy  the  life 
of  a  new  light,  a  new  purity,  and  a  new  inspiration. 

My  brethren,  let  us  not  become  engrossed  with  the 
things  of  this  world  to  the  exclusion  of  the  things  of  the 
next.  Let  not  earth's  riches  hollow  out  our  hearts. 
Little  they  may  seem,  but  a  little  of  the  world  may  shut 
out  a  great  deal  of  heaven.  Robert  Hall,  giving  an 
object  lesson  to  a  man  absorbed  in  money-making,  said: 
"  Sir,  do  you  see  this  coin  ?  It  is  small  in  itself,  but  when 
I  bring  it  close  to  the  eye  I  find  that  it  shuts  out  the 
sun  and  the  whole  heavens."  Oh,  may  the  luster  of  the 
world's  attractions  be  ever  dimmed  by  the  glory  of  our 
mission.  So  precious  to  us  is  the  possession  of  God's 
love,  so  important  is  His  divine  recognition,  and  so 
valuable  is  the  inspiration  of  His  spirit,  that  we  cannot 
afford  to  allow  anything  to  come  before  our  spiritual 
eyes  that  would  hide  Him  from  the  sky  of  our  souls. 
Possessing  such  a  qualification,  we  cannot  lose,  we  can 
only  gain.  We  shall  not  decrease,  but  increase,  and 
upon  whatever  part  of  His  kingdom  He  looks  down  and 
regards  our  work,  we  shall  feel  the  strength  of  His  recog- 
nition and  the  superiority  of  His  leadership. 


226  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


OUR  COUNTRY  AND  THE  WORLD 

JOSIAH  STRONG 
President  of  the  American  Institute  of  Social  Service 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly,  New 
York,  July  22,  1909.) 

America  is  God's  great  laboratory  for  the  world. 
America  is  not  only  the  land  of  great  opportunity,  but 
these  are  the  days  of  great  opportunity. 

The  great  periods  of  the  world  are  the  periods  of  transi- 
tion. I  believe  that  this  is  the  period  of  supreme  transi- 
tion in  all  the  ages.  I  believe  that  the  changes  that  have 
taken  place  and  are  still  in  progress  are  the  greatest  that 
ever  have  or  ever  can  take  place.  I  believe  that  this 
transition  is  the  mighty  hinge  of  history  on  which  turn 
the  destinies  of  states  and  nations. 

Within  the  last  hundred  years  there  has  sprung  up  a 
new  civilization,  because  man  has  learned  a  new  method 
of  gaining  a  livelihood  that  is  radically  different  from 
anything  before.  The  cause  of  this  change  is  man's 
control  of  the  forces  of  nature.  The  definite  change 
rests  in  the  fact  that  mechanical  power  has  taken  the 
place  of  physical  power.  That  fact  is  here  and  it  is 
here  to  stay.  We  have,  of  course,  our  agricultural  and 
our  commercial  elements  in  our  civilization,  but  because 
manufacturing  is  dominant  we  call  our  civilization  indus- 
trial. This  great  change  is  destined  to  come  wherever 
man  wants  and  muscles  work.  The  problems  that  it 
brings  therefore  are  world  problems.  These  great  prob- 
lems created  by  the  new  civilization  are  more  intense  in 


JOSIAH  STRONG  227 

the  United  States  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  but 
generally  speaking  we  have  better  facilities  for  their 
solution. 

The  world-old  social  problem  has  been  complicated  by 
the  industrial  revolution.  This  problem,  whose  essence 
consists  in  the  relation  of  man  to  his  fellows,  has  been 
made  more  difficult  through  the  increasing  interdepend- 
ence of  men  because  of  the  increasing  division  of  labor. 
We  sustain  thousands  of  relations  to-day  that  did  not 
exist  two  generations  ago.  These  relations  imply  mutual 
obligation.  People  may  be  good  friends  who  live  a  mile 
apart,  but  if  brought  into  the  same  house  they  cannot 
even  be  good  neighbors.  The  conditions  of  modern 
civilization  are  tying  classes  together.  The  motto  of 
the  old  civilization  was,  "Each  man  for  himself ";  the 
motto  of  the  new  must  be,  "Each  for  all  and  all  for  each." 
The  troubles  of  to-day  are  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
we  have  brought  the  old  ethics  into  the  new  conditions. 
Our  social  problem  can  be  solved  only  by  a  readjustment 
of  relations.  That  adjustment  can  take  place  easier 
where  men  are  free.  Because  of  the  freedom  of  our 
institutions  it  is  easier  to  establish  right  relations  here 
than  where  there  are  permanent  strata  of  society. 

The  religion  that  is  precisely  adapted  to  the  solution 
of  present-day  problems  is  Christianity.  The  teachings 
of  Jesus  Christ  concerning  the  relation  of  man  to  his 
fellows  will  solve  these  problems,  and  nothing  else  can. 


228  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


INTERNATIONAL    ARBITRATION    AND    PEACE 

RICHARD  BARTHOLDT 

Congressman  from  Missouri  and  President  of  the  Interparliamentary 
Union  for  the  Promotion  of  International  Arbitration 

(Condensed  from  an  address  at  the  Second  National  Peace  Con- 
gress, at  Chicago,  May  4,  1909.) 

From  childhood  on,  man  is  constantly  impressed  with 
the  splendid  paraphernalia  of  war.  As  children  we  play 
with  toy  soldiers;  in  school  we  rind  war  glorified  in  the 
text-books  we  have  to  read;  as  youths  we  are  taught  that 
patriotism  requires  our  joining  the  militia;  and  as  men 
our  eyes  are  dazzled  with  shining  uniforms  and  our  ears 
are  filled  with  martial  music. 

Against  all  these  machinations  which  impress  the  minds 
of  the  people,  through  eyes  and  ears,  with  the  glory  of 
militarism  and  war,  the  friends  of  world-wide  peace  are 
at  a  great  disadvantage,  for  the  weapons  they  employ 
in  their  war  upon  war  are  invisible  and  the  progress  of 
their  cause  cannot  be  seen.  But  despite  this  disadvan- 
tage, let  me  tell  you  that  all  the  claptrap  of  militarism 
will  avail  nothing  in  the  end  as  against  the  resistless 
force  of  our  idea. 

What,  then,  is  our  idea  ?  Let  me  present  it  to  you  in 
a  nutshell.  It  is  that  our  peace  with  foreign  nations  shall 
be  secured  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  our  domestic 
peace  is  secured;  namely,  by  referring  all  controversies 
to  the  courts  for  settlement.  This  method  of  settling 
disputes  has  been  enacted  into  law  by  every  civilized 
nation  in  order  to  secure  its  peace  at  home,  and  we  insist 


RICHARD  BARTHOLDT  229 

that  each  nation  should  readily  consent  to,  aye,  strive 
for,  similar  international  enactments  in  order  to  secure 
its  peace  abroad. 

Is  this  plain  enough?  But  you  will  see  it  still  more 
plainly  by  raising  yourselves  a  little  above  the  level  to 
take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  world  and  watch  the  atti- 
tude of  the  nations  toward  their  own  citizens,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  toward  their  sister  nations,  on  the  other. 
Suppose  we  could  turn  the  hands  of  the  clock  backward 
and  allow  individuals  to  do  as  nations  do  by  shaping 
our  home  conduct  after  the  international  pattern,  do 
you  know  what  would  happen  ?  Why,  we  would  relapse 
into  barbarism;  the  mailed  hand  would  rule;  every  house 
would  be  an  arsenal;  men  would  walk  about  armed  to 
their  teeth;  and  blood  would  constantly  flow  foot  high. 
It  is  the  kind  of  peace  that  prevailed  when  might  was 
right;  it  is  the  peace  which  now  prevails  as  between  nation 
and  nation  and  which  the  advocates  of  armaments  and 
battle-ships  uphold  and  pray  for.  But  we  cannot  go 
backward;  we  must  go  forward;  hence  the  rule  of  arbi- 
trary power  which  now  controls  international  relations 
will  not  be  extended  to  our  domestic  affairs,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  mantle  of  law  and  order  which  now  covers 
the  home  affairs  of  each  nation  will  soon  be  thrown  over 
and  made  to  cover  and  grace  all  the  great  nations  in 
their  conduct  toward  one  another.  It  is  the  inevitable 
logic  of  events.  By  establishing  courts  the  nations  first 
secured  justice  and  peace  in  their  own  domain;  by  creat- 
ing the  high  court  at  The  Hague  they  have  taken  the 
next  step  to  a  higher  plane  to  secure  justice  and  peace 
in  their  relations  with  each  other. 

All  reasonable  beings  are  agreed  that  war  is  one  of  the 


230  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TODAY 

greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  of  the  evils  with  which  the 
world  has  been  afflicted  from  the  dawn  of  history.  But 
while  the  human  family  for  more  than  two  thousand 
years  bewailed  the  horrors  of  that  "plague  of  mankind," 
as  Washington  called  it,  it  failed  to  offer  a  right  remedy. 
That  remedy  has  now  been  found.  It  is  safe  and  sane 
and  practical.  It  is  not  the  dream  of  theorists,  but  the 
well-defined  plan  of  jurists  and  statesmen,  an  evolution 
of  the  civic  order  recognized  the  world  over.  The  United 
States  now  spends  over  three  hundred  million  dollars  a 
year  for  its  army  and  navy,  of  which  two  hundred  millions 
could  easily  be  saved  under  our  plan,  to  be  devoted  to 
the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  and  highways, 
and  to  the  encouragement  of  art,  science,  and  education. 
Think  of  what  a  paradise  the  country  could  be  made 
with  an  annual  expenditure  of  two  hundred  millions  for 
such  purposes,  or  what  burdens  could  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  people! 

The  world  is  slowly,  but  surely,  rallying  around  the 
banners  of  peace.  It  gravitates  in  an  ascending  line  to 
the  higher  plane  of  one  common  brotherhood,  where  the 
shedding  of  human  blood  for  the  sake  of  trade  or  any 
other  purpose  is  regarded  as  a  relic  of  barbarism,  and 
where  the  three  watchwords  of  a  new  world  organization 
will  be  humanity,  justice,  and  peace.  In  this  onward 
march  the  United  States  should  lead.  It  will  be  the 
fulfilment  of  our  country's  sublime  mission.  It  will  lend 
a  new  significance  to  the  flag  and  will  cause  all  mankind 
to  bless  the  Stars  and  Stripes  as  the  emblem  of  their 
salvation  as  well  as  ours. 


SETH  LOW  231 


WORLD  PEACE 

SETH  LOW 

Former  President  of  Columbia  University 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  in  connection  with  the  Hudson- 
Fulton  Celebration,  1909,  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  German- Ameri- 
cans of  New  York  in  honor  of  Grossadmiral  von  Koester.) 

In  these  days  of  free  intercourse  between  the  people 
of  all  nations,  the  prosperity  of  every  nation  is  likely 
to  be  for  the  advantage  of  every  other  nation.  I  cannot 
imagine  any  greater  misfortune  that  can  befall  mankind 
than  to  have  any  two  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world 
feel  that  their  interests  necessitate  a  trial  of  strength 
with  each  other.  No  great  nations  can  fight  to-day 
without  involving  all  the  other  nations  of  the  world  in 
the  consequences  of  their  struggle  more  directly  than 
ever  before.  We  of  the  United  States,  I  am  confident, 
may  be  relied  upon  to  do  everything  in  our  power  to 
develop  a  world  public  opinion  that  will  powerfully  help 
to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  world. 

The  things  and  the  forces  that  are  seen  are  temporal. 
It  is  the  things  and  the  forces  that  are  not  seen  that  are 
eternal.  The  trolley  wire  attached  to  loaded  cars  would 
soon  be  snapped  if  the  attempt  were  made  to  haul  the 
cars  by  direct  traction;  but  that  same  trolley  wire  can 
be  charged  with  an  invisible  force  that  will  move  all  the 
cars  of  a  great  city,  loaded  to  their  utmost  capacity. 
That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  a  just  illustration  of  the  force 
of  public  opinion.  It  is  intangible;  it  cannot  be  weighed; 
it  cannot  be  seen;  and  yet,  more  and  more,  in  every 


232  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

country  of  the  world,  whatever  be  its  form  of  govern- 
ment, this  intangible  public  opinion  is  becoming  the 
decisive  force  that  shapes  the  destiny  of  the  peoples. 
Slowly,  if  you  please,  but  surely,  there  is  developing  a 
public  opinion  of  the  world  to  the  bar  of  which  every 
nation  must  come  which  breaks  the  peace  of  the  world. 
My  prayer  is  that  the  United  States,  and  England,  my 
mother  country,  and  Germany,  which  is  your  father- 
land, each  in  its  own  measure,  may  help  powerfully  to 
develop  the  public  opinion  that  one  day  will  bring  about 
for  all  nations  that  "pax  humana,"  which  will  mean  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  world. 


THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE 

RICHMOND  P.   HOBSON 
Congressman  from  Alabama 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  Congress  December  14,  1909.) 

A  man  must  not  only  have  life,  but  he  must  have  lib- 
erty. A  nation  must  not  only  possess  its  territory,  but 
it  must  be  free  to  operate  its  institutions  unmolested 
within  that  territory.  Since  the  promulgation  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  no  nation  of  Europe  has  dared  to 
menace  the  exercise  of  sovereign  rights  by  any  American 
government  within  its  own  territory.  But  that  is  not 
true  as  regards  Asiatic  nations. 

It  is  no  news  to  members  of  this  House  that  despite 
the  fact  that  when  the  United  States  Government  itself 
could  not  compel  the  people  of  San  Francisco  —  or  of 


RICHMOND  P.  HOBSON  233 

any  city  or  state  —  to  put  certain  students  or  certain 
scholars  in  its  schools  along  with  certain  other  scholars, 
nevertheless  a  foreign  power  has  dared  to  attempt  this, 
has  succeeded  in  doing  this,  through  the  cooperation  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  In  the  great  sover- 
eign states  of  the  Pacific  coast  the  question  has  inevitably 
arisen  as  to  regulations  that  will  solve  the  great  diffi- 
culties that  confront  our  people  there  growing  out  of 
the  race  question.  When  they  have  sought  to  pass  the 
needed  regulations  for  segregation  in  accordance  with 
their  sovereign  rights,  expressly  recognized  and  guaran- 
teed by  the  Constitution,  regulations  already  in  opera- 
tion as  respects  Americans  in  Japan,  what  happened? 
They  were  forbidden  to  do  in  their  own  domain,  as  respects 
Japanese,  what  Japan  now  does  in  her  own  territory 
regarding  Americans.  Forbidden  by  whom?  By  the 
Japanese  government.  And  yet  no  citizen  of  the  United 
States  can  go  to  Japan  and  live  where  he  pleases.  They 
segregate  all  white  men  in  Japan.  And  the  only  way 
to  solve  the  race  problem  of  the  Pacific  coast  is  to  segre- 
gate all  the  yellow  people  there.  The  legislatures  of 
those  great  commonwealths  have  the  right,  according 
to  our  Constitution,  without  let  or  hindrance  from  any 
quarter,  to  work  out  this  solution  for  the  race  problems 
with  which  they  are  confronted.  While  engaged  in  the 
exercise  of  this  sovereign  right,  a  state  legislature,  as  well 
as  the  school  board  of  an  American  city  —  San  Francisco 
—  were  solemnly  informed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  that  the  nation  could  not  protect  them  in  the 
exercise  of  their  rights,  and  that  they  must  not  only 
obey  the  dictate  of  a  foreign  power,  but  that  they  must 
even  cease  discussing  the  questions  involved. 


234  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Why  should  not  this  nation  recognize  the  true  prin- 
ciple of  national  defense  ?  Why  should  not  the  elements 
of  this  problem  receive  the  careful  attention  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  sitting  in  this  assembly?  Why 
should  we  not  get  the  true  principle  and  work  out  a 
scientific  naval  policy  ?  The  pages  of  history  show  that 
great  sociological  forces,  when  not  properly  counterbal- 
anced by  equilibrium  of  armed  power,  will  bring  on  war 
as  surely  as  to-morrow's  sun  is  going  to  rise.  By  accept- 
ing seats  in  this  House  we  have  assumed  great  responsi- 
bilities. By  its  course  this  House  is  menacing  the  peace 
of  the  world,  when  we  ought  to  be  its  chief  preserver. 
We  are  rapidly  putting  our  country  in  such  a  position 
that  when  differences  do  arise  and  a  peaceable  solution 
becomes  impossible,  humiliation  will  be  inevitable  —  such 
humiliation  as  no  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  ever  yet  endured. 
Then  out  of  the  ashes  of  humiliation  this  policy  of  neglect 
would  compel  us  to  organize  a  mighty  war  of  endurance 
and  of  exhaustion,  out  of  which  America  would  emerge 
victorious,  because  our  resources  are  so  boundless.  But 
oh!  at  what  a  cost,  not  only  to  ourselves  in  men  and 
money,  but  in  the  blow  that  we  would  strike  at  the  future 
of  free  institutions,  at  the  holy  cause  of  peace.  Because 
of  our  neglect  to  do  our  full  duty  as  representatives  of 
the  American  people  we  increase  the  danger  of  war,  and 
we  prolong  the  period  when  nations  resort  to  the  sword 
instead  of  to  courts  of  justice  for  the  settlement  of  their 
differences. 


FRANK  M.  NYE  235 

ON  RAISING  THE  BATTLE-SHIP  "MAINE" 

FRANK  M.   NYE 

Congressman  from  Minnesota 

(Remarks  on  a  bill  to  raise  the  wreck  of  the  Maine,  delivered  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  March  23,  1910.) 

Matters  of  a  material  consideration  have  been  ably 
discussed  here,  matters  pertaining  to  the  details  of  the 
work  to  be  accomplished  in  the  raising  of  the  Maine, 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  over  and  above  all  questions  of 
clearing  the  channel  for  the  way  of  the  world's  commerce, 
and  over  and  above  the  great  question  of  how  the  ship 
was  blown  up,  is  the  duty  of  the  House  to  express  its 
patriotic  love  for  the  memory  of  the  men  who  went  down 
on  that  fatal  day.  Some  have  said  that  this  is  pure 
sentiment,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  national  sentiment 
of  such  a  character  as  this  is  highly  worthy  of  a  great 
people.  The  pure  sentiment  of  the  nation  is,  in  its  last 
analysis,  that  for  which  men  fight  and  for  which  they 
die.  Pure  sentiment  is  the  star  toward  which  all  civiliza- 
tion moves  in  the  night  of  human  contention  and  in  the 
slow  advance  of  man  toward  the  light  of  a  purer  and 
nobler  patriotism. 

There  is  a  beautiful  legend  of  a  Swiss  village,  a  little 
village  in  the  mountains,  centuries  ago,  where  in  the 
chapel  they  had  an  organ  that  gave  forth  enchanting, 
elevating,  soul-stirring  tones  that  touched  the  hearts  of 
the  humble  villagers.  There  came  a  time  of  national 
disturbance,  when  marauders  invaded  the  region,  and  it 
was  known  that  the  village  was  to  be  overrun  and  ran- 
sacked and  its  people  perhaps  murdered. 


236  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

The  villagers  took  from  out  the  chapel  this  organ  and 
carried  it  to  a  mountain  lake  and  sank  it.  After  peace 
had  finally  been  restored  the  villagers  returned,  and  for 
generations  there  was  a  legend  that  at  a  certain  hour,  I 
think  at  twilight,  there  came  upon  the  breezes  from  the 
lake  the  same  sweet  music  that  had  stirred  the  souls  of 
their  fathers  before  them.  But  there  comes  to  us  to-day 
no  such  music,  but  a  rebuke  from  the  noble  dead,  who 
sleep  in  that  dark  sepulcher  of  the  sea,  telling  us  that  we 
have  been  recreant  to  a  trust.  The  noblest  thing  we  can 
do  is  to  make  haste  now,  late  as  it  is,  to  rescue  this  ship 
with  these  poor  bodies,  and  to  inter  in  fitting  manner  the 
remains  of  those  who  went  down  in  the  ill-fated  Maine, 
that  liberty  and  justice  and  all  that  is  noble  and  pure 
in  civilization  may  be  enthroned  in  a  people's  love  and 
memory. 


A  FREE  PRESS  AND  FREE  PAPER 

THOMAS   P.   GORE 

United  States  Senator  from  Oklahoma 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  May  31,  1909.) 

Mr.  President:  The  fact  that  we  compete  in  all  the 
markets  of  the  world,  with  all  the  countries  of  the  world, 
and  that  we  sometimes  sell  cheaper  abroad  than  at  home, 
takes  away  from  the  paper  manufacturers  every  claim 
and  title  to  tariff  protection. 

Moreover,  I  do  not  look  upon  this  question  as  being  on 


THOMAS  P.  GORE  237 

an  absolute  level  with  other  industrial  and  commercial 
questions  which  have  been  debated  and  decided  pending 
this  tariff  revision.  I  think  there  are  other  and  higher 
considerations.  I  know  there  are  those  who  reduce 
every  proposition  to  a  common  denominator  of  dollars 
and  cents.  They  have  no  patience  with  any  proposal 
which  cannot  be  expressed  with  the  dollar  mark  and  a 
decimal.  There  are  those  who  have  deified  the  dollar 
and  who  have  worshiped  gold  as  their  god.  I  know  that 
considerations  of  humanity,  of  progress,  and  enlighten- 
ment do  not  appeal  to  those  idolators.  But  it  seems  to 
me  that  this  proposition  to  reduce  the  tariff  on  print 
paper  rests  upon  the  very  highest  considerations  of 
patriotism  and  of  public  policy. 

We  expend  $343,000,000  every  year  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  country  for  the  education  of  the  youths 
of  the  land,  a  larger  sum,  as  I  remember,  than  was  ever 
raised  in  a  single  year  by  any  tariff  law  ever  enacted 
during  the  history  of  this  country.  We  have  seventeen 
million  children  enrolled  and  nearly  half  a  million  good  men 
and  women  consecrated  to  the  education  of  our  children. 
Yet  we  impose  a  tax  of  from  ten  to  twelve  dollars  a  ton 
on  the  paper  that  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  school- 
books  for  our  children.  We  largely  neutralize  the  bene- 
fits and  blessings  of  this  taxation  dedicated  as  a  sacred 
fund  to  the  education  of  the  coming  men  and  the  coming 
women  of  America,  the  men  who  must  fight  our  battles 
in  the  future  and  the  women  who  must  mother  the  gen- 
erations of  unborn  Americans.  In  my  judgment  a  tax 
on  print  paper  is  a  tax  on  intelligence.  It  is  a  fine  on 
knowledge.  It  sets  a  premium  upon  ignorance  and  a 
penalty  upon  learning.    A  tax  on  print  paper  is  a  shade 


23$  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

on  the  lamp  of  enlightenment  and  a  cloud  over  the  sun 
of  civilization. 

It  is  as  true  as  it  is  ancient  that  a  free  press  is  the 
palladium  of  liberty.  Tyrants,  sir,  have  never  been  able 
to  thrive  in  that  white  light  which  a  free  press  sheds 
upon  the  throne.  It  is  the  sacred  duty  of  the  press  to 
speak  truth  to  the  king  in  the  hearing  of  the  people  and 
to  the  people  in  the  hearing  of  the  king. 

Mr.  President,  the  first  recorded  utterance  of  the  most 
high  God  was,  "Let  there  be  light."  This  has  ever 
been  the  battle  hymn  of  human  progress.  This  has  ever 
been  and  must  ever  be  the  watchword  of  advancing 
civilization.  The  nation  that  forgets  this  mandate  must 
relapse  into  social  chaos  and  intellectual  night.  There 
are  kindreds  among  the  sons  of  men  who  are  still  thralled 
to  the  power  of  darkness.  There  are  senators  who  seem 
to  prefer  darkness  rather  than  light.  Notwithstanding 
the  first  fiat  of  Omnipotence  was,  "Let  there  be  light," 
yet  this  Senate,  in  defiance  of  the  decree,  sets  up  its 
puny  enactment,  "Let  there  be  night."  But  light,  sir, 
whether  physical,  intellectual,  or  moral,  is  a  blessing  to 
be  sought  and  not  an  evil  to  be  shunned.  I  would  not 
place  a  meter  upon  the  eyelids  of  the  people  and  charge 
them  for  the  joyous  sunbeams.  I  would  not  annul  or 
defy  the  ordinance  of  the  Almighty. 


JOHN  D.  LONG  230 


AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP 

JOHN  D.   LONG 

Ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  Fourth  of  July  address  at  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  1909.) 

I  went  last  year  to  the  graduating  exercises  at  the 
Hancock  school  for  girls  at  the  North  End  of  Boston. 
It  was  once  the  aristocratic  part  of  that  city.  Later  our 
Irish  people  had  filled  it.  But  last  year  in  the  graduating 
class  was  neither  a  Yankee  nor  a  Celt.  They  were  all 
Russians,  Jews,  Poles,  and  especially  Italians.  Arrayed 
on  the  stage  in  their  white  dresses  and  neat  shoes,  singing 
with  exquisite  voices,  showing  in  their  written  and  spoken 
exercises  the  best  scholarship,  differing  in  appearance  in 
no  respect  from  a  similar  gathering  in  the  most  old-time 
Anglo-Saxon  community  in  one  of  our  rural  villages,  they 
sang  "America"  and  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner." 
They  declaimed  of  our  country  and  our  great  names; 
they  were  full  of  the  inspiration  of  American  life.  In 
short,  they  were  American  citizens. 

And  what  responsibility  is  on  this  new  cosmopolitan 
and  American  citizen  which  now  each  one  of  us  is!  The 
past  is  secure.  But  what  of  the  future  ?  What  are  you 
going  to  do,  you,  of  all  these  races,  now  one  ?  What  are 
you  going  to  do  for  religion,  with  whatever  church  you 
may  be  associated,  —  not  the  religion  which  finds  its 
expression  in  mere  formula  and  phrase,  but  in  righteous- 
ness of  life,  in  recognition  of  obligation  to  God,  and  in 
the  effluence  of  beneficence  to  your  f ellowmen  ? 


240  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

What  are  you  going  to  do  on  this  vital  question  of 
temperance,  —  not  approaching  it  in  any  extravagant  or 
intemperate  way,  but  recognizing  the  inexpressible  misery, 
crime,  cost,  disgrace,  and  social  and  political  corruption 
which  it  entails,  doing  what  you  can  by  fitting  word  and 
influence,  and  especially  by  your  own  constant  personal 
example,  to  help  check  this  appalling  source  of  evil? 

What  are  you  going  to  do  in  charity,  —  not  merely 
the  overflowing  of  your  abundance  upon  the  poor,  the 
sick,  the  hungry,  to  supply  their  material  needs,  but  in 
the  more  delicate  charities  in  social  life  and  communi- 
cation, not  as  between  those  who  have  more  and  those 
who  have  less,  but  as  between  members  of  one  great 
community,  all  sensitive  to  the  slightest  chill  or  neglect 
and  all  responsive  to  the  lightest  touch  of  human  sym- 
pathy? These  social  problems  are  by  no  means  easy. 
They  are  not  to  be  cavalierly  settled  with  a  fine  sentiment 
or  a  little  moralizing.  They  involve  our  practical  rela- 
tions as  Christians  not  only  toward  those  who  are  not 
congenial  in  social  life,  but  to  criminals,  whom  we  shut 
up  and  then  shun. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  for  good  politics,  remember- 
ing that  this  is  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people,  and  that  you,  and  each  of  you,  are  the 
people  and  that  that  means  a  government  of  public  opinion 
and  that  it  is  you  who  form  that  public  opinion?  Virtue, 
public  and  private,  will  become  easy  and  popular  when 
it  is  the  badge  and  inspiration  of  the  leaders;  and  good 
influences  from  the  top  will  permeate  through  the  whole 
body  politic,  as  rain  filters  through  the  earth  and  freshens 
it  with  verdure  and  beauty  and  fertility.  It  is  axiom- 
atic that  the  educated  and  virtuous  in  a  free  state  can 


JOSEPH  M.  DIXON  241 

control  it  if  they  will,  but  only  by  constant  vigilance  and 
effort. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  about  these  wider  yawning 
rifts  and  bitternesses  among  the  elements  that  make  up 
the  body  politic,  —  the  friction  between  capital  and 
labor,  the  envy  of  classes?  What  are  you  going  to  do 
to  bring  them  into  Christian  harmony  and  into  that 
genuine  democratic  equality  of  rights  and  opportunities 
and  enjoyment  which  is  the  fundamental  principle  of 
our  political  system? 

What  are  you  going  to  do  with  all  these  gathering  and 
ominous  and  festering  problems  of  the  time?  Will  you 
shelter  yourself  from  all  responsibility  of  activity  in  their 
solution,  or  will  you  give  them  the  help  of  your  heart 
and  hand  and  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  and  education 
which  are  at  high  tide  in  your  city  of  Springfield  ?  These 
are  large  questions,  but  they  are  upon  you  and  upon 
every  one  of  you.  You  are  citizens  of  no  small  country. 
What  splendid  perils  and  glories  are  before  you!  Already 
you  hear  the  ringing  cry,  "Up  and  at  them!" 


SWOLLEN  FORTUNES  AND  THE  TAXATION 
OF  INHERITANCES 

JOSEPH  M.  DIXON 
United  States  Senator  from  Montana 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  June  29,  1909.) 

Someone  has  said  regarding  an  income  tax,  "Don't 
disturb  the  bee  while  he  is  gathering  the  honey.' '    As  to 


242  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

an  inheritance  tax,  I  would  carry  the  suggestion  a  little 
further,  and  suggest  that  when  the  bee  has  gathered  the 
honey  by  his  own  laborious  efforts  through  the  season 
of  a  long  and  laborious  life,  before  turning  the  accumu- 
lated hive  of  honey  over  to  the  drones  to  eat  and  fatten 
at  the  expense  of  him  who  gathered  it,  let  the  guardian 
of  the  hive,  the  Government,  step  in  and  take  at  least  a 
small  share  as  a  recompense  for  the  expense  and  care 
that  was  necessary  in  safeguarding  the  hive,  without 
which  care  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  bee 
to  have  accumulated  his  honey. 

I  have  no  envy  for  the  multimillionaire  or  the  great 
modern  financial  "captains  of  industry."  To  the  man 
who  enters  the  lists  of  the  commercial  and  financial 
world,  and  by  his  brain  and  nerve  and  brawn  fights  the 
battle  successfully,  and  wins  by  honorable  means,  I  have 
nothing  but  sincere  admiration  and  words  of  praise. 
But  I  do  believe  that  in  a  democracy,  where  that  which 
we  all  profess  to  believe  the  ideal  condition  of  govern- 
ment is  that  which  gives  equal  opportunity  to  all,  the 
entailing  or  the  handing  down  to  posterity  of  these 
latter-day  enormous  fortunes  may  produce  a  condition 
in  society  that  is  fraught  with  great  danger. 

While  the  law  of  primogeniture  is  unknown  in  our 
national  life,  while  the  practise  of  entailing  landed  estates 
is  prohibited  by  constitutional  enactments,  as  a  matter 
of  cold  fact  the  actual  entailing  of  large  estates  to  the 
second  and  third  generation  by  their  dead  owners  is 
rapidly  becoming  the  custom  with  the  owners  of  these 
latter-day  swollen  fortunes.  Of  recent  years  it  is  the 
almost  universal  custom  of  these  multimillionaires  to 
place  their  vast  estates  in  a  trusteeship  by  the  terms  of 


JOSEPH  M.  DIXON  243 

which  they  can  direct  its  course  for  a  hundred  years 
after  they  are  dead  and  gone.  The  well-known  case 
of  the  great  estate  of  Marshall  Field,  of  the  estimated 
value  of  $150,000,000,  is  now  securely  lodged  in  the  man- 
agement of  trustees  for  the  ultimate  benefit  and  use  of 
two  boys  of  the  third  generation.  The  $150,000,000  of 
American  property  for  the  protection  of  which  this 
Government  maintains  its  army  and  navy,  its  courts,  its 
legislative  and  executive  branches  of  government  yields 
no  direct  service  to  its  overlord,  the  Federal  Government. 
In  this  and  hundreds  of  other  cases  the  "dead  hand"  is 
once  more  in  direct  evidence,  in  some  degree  directing 
and  controlling  the  conditions  under  which  men  and 
women  of  this  and  succeeding  generations  must  earn 
their  living,  and  yet  that  "dead  hand"  gives  little  or 
nothing  in  return. 

Whatever  may  be  the  remedy,  if  there  be  a  remedy,  it 
is  apparent  to  us  all  that  a  condition  of  society  that 
permits  two  of  its  members  to  absorb  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  the  accumulated  earnings  of  others  by 
the  mere  accident  of  birth  is  an  abnormal  and  dangerous 
condition  for  society  and  government.  We  may  hold 
up  our  hands  in  holy  horror  at  this  assertion  and  say 
this  is  "rank  socialism,"  but  it  is  nevertheless  true. 

Even  the  Wall  Street  Journal  as  recently  as  October, 
1906,  in  discussing  the  dangers  from  "swollen  fortunes," 
said:  "President  Roosevelt  isn't  the  only  one  who  has 
discovered  in  great  individual  fortunes  a  possible  peril 
to  American  liberties.  As  long  ago  as  1849  Horace 
Mann,  one  of  the  most  patriotic  and  unselfish  servants 
of  the  people  this  country  has  ever  produced  and  to 
whom  it  owes  in  largest  measure  its  present  great  system 


244  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

of  public-school  education,  said:  'Vast  fortunes  are  mis- 
fortunes to  the  state.  They  confer  irresponsible  power; 
and  human  nature,  except  in  the  rarest  instances,  has 
proved  incapable  of  wielding  irresponsible  power  without 
abuse.  The  feudalism  of  capital  is  not  a  whit  less  formi- 
dable than  the  feudalism  of  force.  The  millionaire  of  our 
day  is  no  less  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  the  community 
than  was  the  baronial  lord  of  the  middle  ages.,,, 


THE  LEGISLATOR  AND  THE  POPULAR  WILL 

FRANK  S.   BLACK 
Ex-Governor  of  New  York 

(Extract  from  a  speech  on  "Forefathers'  Day,"  delivered  at  the 
annual  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society,  New  York  city, 
December  22,  1908.) 

This  is  a  representative  government  and  the  popular 
will  should  control.  But  the  popular  will  itself  may  well 
be  guided.  The  wind  that  carries  your  ships  is  the 
breath  of  commerce,  and  commerce  is  the  seed  of  civiliza- 
tion. But  the  captain  who  does  not  try  to  breast  the 
gale  and  temper  its  application  is  unfit  to  command  a 
ship.  Vox  populi  vox  Dei  I  Perhaps  so.  But  still  upon 
grave  questions  I  had  rather  trust  the  pulpit  than  the 
street.  The  popular  will  must  prevail,  but  the  populace 
is  made  up  of  units,  and  that  still  leaves  the  individual 
the  right  to  speak.  The  popular  will  must  be  the  last 
thing  recorded,  and  in  that  fact  lies  the  individual  duty 
to  so  act  and  speak  and  exemplify  that  that  last  record 


FRANK  S.  BLACK  245 

shall  be  written,  not  in  the  anger  or  greed  or  impulse  of 
the  moment,  but  in  the  calmness,  the  reason,  and  the 
fairness  that  spring  from  mutual  instruction  and  for- 
bearance. If  you  do  not  so  act  you  are  not  yielding  to 
the  popular  will;  you  are  fleeing  before  the  tempest. 
You  are  not  a  leader  of  public  thought;  you  are  a  deserter 
in  the  face  of  a  high  public  duty. 

The  relinquishment  of  power  by  public  servants  to 
the  populace  is  wrong.  The  oath  of  office  binds  the  man 
who  takes  it  to  be  guided,  not  by  the  people's  whims 
and  humors  which  change  from  day  to  day,  but  by  their 
Constitution  which  they  have  solemnly  adopted.  That 
Constitution  was  intended  to  protect  the  people  against 
the  mistakes  of  their  own  temper,  as  well  as  to  guide 
and  control  their  chosen  representatives,  and  while  it 
lasts  it  binds  them  both.  The  people  are  themselves 
the  source  of  power,  but  not  of  all  power.  And  when 
the  power  they  have  is  once  delegated,  the  servant  who 
receives  it  is  as  much  bound  to  discharge  it  in  accordance 
with  his  conscience  as  the  people  were  bound  to  delegate 
it  in  accordance  with  theirs.  Once  delegated,  they  have 
no  right  to  resume  it  except  upon  the  terms  to  which  they 
agreed.  They  have  no  control  over  right  and  wrong,  and 
the  rules  of  good  morals  that  govern  a  man  govern  the 
world.    Morals  are  not  changed  as  soon  as  a  crowd  gathers. 

Sometimes  I  think  we  overlook  these  obvious  truths 
and  make  too  great  haste  to  join  the  crowd.  The  greatest 
privilege  is  to  be  not  with  the  most,  but  with  the  best. 
A  man  had  better  be  right  and  alone  than  wrong  with  a 
million.  He  may  have  the  whole  world's  approval,  but 
he  is  nevertheless  a  wretch  if  he  quails  in  front  of  his 
own  mirror. 


246  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

The  grade  of  legislation  and  the  standard  of  official 
performances  would  be  vastly  improved  if  men  in  public 
life  would  follow  their  own  beliefs.  What  this  country 
needs  is  public  servants  who  are  not  afraid  to  retire  to 
private  life.  A  man  had  better  give  up  his  office  and 
keep  his  self-respect  than  hold  his  office  without  the  respect 
of  anybody.  A  public  official  is  a  trustee  for  the  general 
welfare,  and  if  he  follows  every  boisterous  public  fancy 
he  is  no  more  fit  for  his  place  than  a  lawyer  who  tries 
his  case  as  his  angry  client  tells  him  to,  or  a  doctor  who 
gives  his  patient  what  he  wants. 

We  are  going  fast  enough  all  the  time  and  wrong 
enough  part  of  the  time,  so  that  I  feel  that  I  am  not 
straying  far  when  I  bring  down  from  the  garret,  and 
speak  a  word  in  favor  of,  this  dusty  and  unused  quality 
of  moderation. 


OVERCOME  EVIL  WITH  GOOD 


HENRY  VAN  DYKE 

Professor  of  English  Literature  in  Princeton  University 
Author,  Lecturer,  and  Publicist 

(An  extract  taken,  by  permission,  from  "The  Battle  of  Life," 
by  Henry  Van  Dyke;  copyright  by  Thomas  Y.  Crowell  &  Co.,  1907.) 

The  way  to  counteract  and  conquer  evil  in  the  world 
is  to  give  our  own  hearts  to  the  dominion  of  good,  and 
work  the  works  of  God  while  it  is  day.  The  strongest 
of  all  obstacles  to  the  advance  of  evil  is  a  clean  and  gen- 
erous man,  doing  his  duty  from  day  to  day,  and  winning 


HENRY  VAN  DYKE  247 

others,  by  his  cheerful  fidelity,  to  serve  the  same  Master. 
Diseases  are  not  the  only  things  that  are  contagious. 
Courage  is  contagious.  Kindness  is  contagious.  Manly 
integrity  is  contagious.  All  the  positive  virtues,  with 
red  blood  in  their  veins,  are  contagious.  The  heaviest 
blow  that  you  can  strike  at  the  kingdom  of  evil  is  just 
to  follow  the  advice  which  the  dying  Sir  Walter  Scott 
gave  to  his  son-in-law,  Lockhart,  "Be  a  good  man." 

Now  take  that  thought  of  fighting  evil  with  good  and 
apply  it  to  our  world  and  to  ourselves.  Here  are  mon- 
strous evils  and  vices  in  society.  Let  intemperance  be 
the  type  of  them  all,  because  so  many  of  the  others  are 
its  children.  Drunkenness  ruins  more  homes  and  wrecks 
more  lives  than  war.  How  shall  we  oppose  it?  I  do 
not  say  that  we  shall  not  pass  resolutions  and  make 
laws  against  it.  But  I  do  say  that  we  can  never  really 
conquer  the  evil  in  this  way.  The  stronghold  of  intem- 
perance lies  in  the  vacancy  and  despair  of  men's  minds. 
The  way  to  attack  it  is  to  make  the  sober  life  beautiful 
and  happy  and  full  of  interest.  Teach  your  boys  how 
to  work,  how  to  read,  how  to  play,  you  fathers,  before 
you  send  them  to  college,  if  you  want  to  guard  them 
against  the  temptations  of  strong  drink  and  the  many 
shames  and  sorrows  that  go  with  it.  Make  the  life  of 
your  community  cheerful  and  pleasant  and  interesting, 
you  reformers,  provide  men  with  recreation  which 
will  not  harm  them,  if  you  want  to  take  away  the 
power  of  the  gilded  saloon  and  the  grimy  boozing-ken. 
Parks  and  playgrounds,  libraries  and  music  rooms,  clean 
homes  and  cheerful  churches,  —  these  are  the  efficient 
foes  of  intemperance.  And  the  same  thing  is  true  of 
gambling  and  lubricity  and  all  the  other  vices  which 


248  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF   TO-DAY 

drag  men  down  by  the  lower  side  of  their  nature  because 
the  higher  side  has  nothing  to  cling  to,  nothing  to  sustain 
it  and  hold  it  up. 

What  are  you  going  to  do,  my  brother  men,  for  this 
higher  side  of  human  life?  What  contribution  are  you 
going  to  make  of  your  strength,  your  time,  your  influence, 
your  money,  your  self,  to  make  a  cleaner,  fuller,  happier, 
larger,  nobler  life  possible  for  some  of  your  fellowmen  ? 
I  do  not  ask  how  you  are  going  to  do  it.  You  may  do 
it  in  business,  in  the  law,  in  medicine,  in  the  ministry, 
in  teaching,  in  literature.  But  this  is  the  question: 
What  are  you  going  to  give  personally  to  make  the  human 
life  of  the  place  where  you  do  your  work  purer,  stronger, 
brighter,  better,  and  more  worth  living?  That  will  be 
your  best  part  in  the  warfare  against  vice  and  crime. 

The  positive  method  is  the  only  efficient  way  to  combat 
intellectual  error  and  spiritual  evil.  False  doctrines  are 
never  argued  out  of  the  world.  They  are  pushed  back 
by  the  incoming  of  the  truth  as  the  darkness  is  pushed 
back  by  the  dawn. 

Last  summer  I  saw  two  streams  emptying  into  the 
sea.  One  was  a  sluggish,  niggardly  rivulet,  in  a  wide, 
fat,  muddy  bed;  and  every  day  the  tide  came  in  and 
drowned  out  that  poor  little  stream,  and  filled  it  with 
bitter  brine.  The  other  was  a  vigorous,  joyful,  brim- 
ming mountain  river,  fed  from  unfailing  springs  among 
the  hills;  and  all  the  time  it  swept  the  salt  water  back 
before  it  and  kept  itself  pure  and  sweet;  and  when  the 
tide  came  in,  it  only  made  the  fresh  water  rise  higher 
and  gather  new  strength  by  the  delay;  and  ever  the 
living  stream  poured  forth  into  the  ocean  its  tribute 
of  living  water,  —  the  symbol  of  that  influence  which 


ROBERT  L.  HENRY  249 

keeps  the  ocean  of  life  from  turning  into  a  Dead  Sea  of 
wickedness. 

My  brother  men,  will  you  take  that  living  stream  as  a 
type  of  your  life  in  the  world?  The  question  for  you  is 
not  what  you  are  going  to  get  out  of  the  world,  but  what 
you  are  going  to  give  to  the  world.  The  only  way  to 
meet  and  overcome  the  inflowing  tide  of  evil  is  to  roll 
against  it  the  outflowing  river  of  good. 


THE  TRUST  AND  THE  CONSUMER 

ROBERT  L.   HENRY 
Congressman  from  Texas 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
January  8,  1910.) 

Permit  me  here  to  present  an  indictment  against  the 
Payne-Aldrich  sham.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  De  Witt 
Hyde,  president  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  should  ring 
in  the  ears  of  every  American  voter: 

"Our  House  of  Lords  is  not  made  up  cUf  landlords,  but  of  steel 
lords,  woolen  lords,  cotton  lords,  lumber  lords,  and,  as  the  latest 
creation,  zinc  lords.  The  amount  of  taxes  and  bounties  on  steel, 
woolen  and  cotton  goods,  lumber,  and  zinc  is  determined  for  us 
not  by  a  responsible  ministry  as  in  England,  but  by  these  lords 
through  the  influence  they  can  exert  on  the  individual  members  of 
Congress;  still  more  on  the  pressure  they  bring  to  bear  on  Senate 
and  House  committees;  and  most  of  all  by  their  power  to  dictate 
terms  to  the  committee  on  conference,  which,  subject  to  the  votes 
of  their  colleagues  and  the  presidential  veto,  practically  determines 
what  the  tariff  shall  be." 

The  consumer  is  now  robbed  by  the  oil  trust,  the  sugar 
trust,  the  tobacco  trust,  the  glass  trust,  the  wool  trust, 


250  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  manufacturers  of  hats,  shoes,  harness,  cotton  goods, 
agricultural  implements,  and  vast  tribes  of  trust  masters 
everywhere.  Everything  we  eat,  drink,  and  wear  is 
augmented  in  price  by  this  outrageous  tax  law.  Bitter 
warfare  will  be  waged  till  the  hordes  of  trust  barons  are 
routed  "horse,  foot,  and  dragoon,"  and  the  forgotten 
man,  the  consumer,  is  reestablished  in  his  God-given 
right  of  equality  before  the  law.  A  baptismal  fire  of 
patriotism  will  sweep  through  this  republic  when  the  true 
enormities  of  the  special  favors  of  the  bill  are  manifest. 

We  have  read  a  story  that  Napoleon  and  the  King 
of  Prussia  were  conversing  one  day.  Napoleon  boasted 
that  the  French  soldiers  were  the  most  patriotic  in  all 
the  world.  The  King  of  Prussia  disputed  it,  whereupon 
Napoleon  summoned  one  of  the  imperial  guard  into  his 
presence  and  bade  him  leap  from  a  window  forty  feet 
above  the  ground.  Instantly  the  soldier  saluted  his 
great  commander  and  leaped  into  eternity.  The  King  of 
Prussia  called  one  of  his  soldiers  and  ordered  him  to  per- 
form the  same  sacrifice.  The  soldier  straightened  him- 
self up  and  asked,  "Is  it  for  you  or  for  the  f atherland ? " 
The  King  of  Prussia  replied,  "No;  it  is  not  for  the  father- 
land, but  for  me."  The  soldier  replied,  "Then,  if  it  is 
not  for  the  fatherland,  but  for  you,  I  will  not  do  it." 
Both  German  and  French  soldiers  were  ready  to  die  for 
their  countries.  And  such  patriotism  should  characterize 
us  in  this  fateful  hour  while  we  struggle  for  our  inalienable 
rights.  For  my  part,  I  dedicate  to  my  constituency  and 
my  country  my  best  energies  and  intellect  in  waging 
this  just  warfare.  And  with  the  cherished  principles  of 
ancient  Democracy  hugged  to  our  bosoms  and  the 
unspotted  flag,  typifying  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  flying 


WILLIAM  DE  WITT  HYDE  251 

above  us,  we  will  press  the  contest  against  those  despoil- 
ing our  citizens  and  perverting  our  institutions.  In  this 
perilous  hour  of  history  — 

"God  give  us  men.    The  time  demands 
Strong  minds,  strong  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands; 
Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 

Men  who  have  honor;  men  who  will  not  lie; 
Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  damn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking; 
Tall  men,  sun  crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking." 


THE  CHRISTIAN  USE  OF  WEALTH 

WILLIAM  DE  WITT  HYDE 
President  of  Bowdoin  College 

(Extract  from  a  series  of  addresses  to  college  students.) 

Do  you  realize  how  much  of  human  life  there  is  stored 
up  in  what  we  eat  and  wear  and  spend  and  use  ?  .  Food 
and  raiment,  fire  and  light,  shelter  and  rest  are  bought 
for  us  by  the  exposure  of  the  lone  shepherd  on  the  moun- 
tainside, the  weary  weaver  at  her  loom,  the  weather- 
beaten  sailor  before  the  mast,  the  engineer  driving  his 
train  against  the  storm,  the  miner  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  the  woodsman  in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  the 
fisherman  off  the  foggy  banks,  the  plowman  in  the  monot- 
onous furrow,  the  cook  drudging  in  the  kitchen,  the 
washerwoman  bending  over  the  tub,  and  the  countless 
host  of  artisans  and  teamsters  and  common  laborers  who 


252  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

form  the  broad,  firm  base  on  which  our  civilization 
rests. 

Because  of  this  high  human  cost  of  material  goods,  all 
waste  is  wickedness,  all  ostentation  is  disgrace.  The 
food  or  raiment  that  you  waste  is  simply  so  much  human 
toil  and  sacrifice  which  you  by  your  wastefulness  render 
null  and  void.  The  wealth  and  state  you  ostentatiously 
display  simply  show  the  world  how  much  of  the  vitality 
of  other  men  and  women  you  burn  up  in  order  to  keep 
your  poor  self  going.  To  boast  of  riches,  to  take  pride 
in  luxury,  is  as  though  an  engine  should  boast  of  the 
quantity  of  coal  it  could  consume,  regardless  of  work 
accomplished;  as  though  a  farm  should  be  proud  of  the 
fertilizer  spread  upon  it,  regardless  of  the  crop  raised  in 
return.  What  is  the  real  nature  of  the  idle  rich?  Pre- 
cisely what  do  they  amount  to  in  the  world?  To  eat 
the  bread  that  other  men  have  toiled  to  plant  and  reap 
and  transport  and  cook  and  serve;  to  wear  the  silk  and 
woolen  that  other  women  have  spun  and  woven  and  cut 
and  sewed;  to  lie  in  a  couch  that  other  hands  have  spread, 
and  under  a  roof  that  other  arms  have  reared;  not  that 
alone  —  for  we  all  do  as  much  —  but  to  consume  these 
things  upon  themselves  with  no  sense  of  gratitude  and 
fellowship  toward  the  toiling  men  and  women  who  bring 
these  gifts;  with  no  strenuous  effort  to  give  back  to  them 
something  as  valuable  and  precious  as  that  which  they 
have  given  to  us,  —  that  is  the  meanness  and  selfishness 
and  sin  and  shame  of  wealth  that  is  idle  and  irresponsible. 

The  rich  Christian  is  God's  finest  masterpiece  in  the 
world  to-day.  The  man  whose  office  is  a  pivot  around 
which  revolve  in  integrity  and  beneficence  the  wheels 
of  industry  and  commerce,  affording  employment  and 


HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON  253 

subsistence  to  thousands  of  his  fellows;  the  woman  whose 
home  is  a  center  of  generous  hospitality,  whence  ceaseless 
streams  of  refinement  and  charity  flow  forth  to  bless  the 
world;  the  person  whose  leisure  and  culture  and  wealth 
and  influence  are  devoted  to  the  direction  of  forces,  the 
solution  of  problems,  the  organization  of  movements 
which  require  large  expenditure  of  time  and  money  — 
these  men  and  women  who  are  at  the  same  time  rich  and 
Christian,  these  are  the  salt  of  our  modern  society;  by 
such  comes  the  redemption  of  the  world;  of  such,  no  less 
than  of  the  Christian  poor,  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  No 
honest  man  grudges  these  Christian  rich  their  wealth. 
It  matters  not  whether  their  income  is  five  hundred  or 
fifty  thousand  a  year.  The  question  is  whether  the  little 
or  the  much  is  made  organic  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
good  of  humanity. 


LEADERSHIP  IN  A  DEMOCRACY 

HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON 
President  of  the  University  of  Chicago 

(Condensed  from  an  address  delivered  upon  the  occasion  of 
conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on  President  Roosevelt, 
at  the  University  of  Chicago,  April,  2,  1903.) 

There  can  be  no  coherent  policy  in  a  democracy  with- 
out continuous  and  strong  leadership.  Democracy,  to 
live,  must  learn  the  lesson  of  discipline,  the  lesson  to 
follow  in  constructive  achievement  as  well  as  in  turbulent 
revolt.    Without    wise    leadership    political    democracy 


254  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

tends  to  resolve  society  into  its  inorganic  elements.  It 
becomes  an  inert  mass  of  helpless  confusion  —  the  easy 
prey  of  predatory  activity  within,  and  of  exploitation  by 
organized  and  skilfully  directed  force  from  without. 

Leadership  in  a  political  democracy  is  not  always  the 
product  of  elections  or  the  concomitant  of  official  station. 
Natural  environment,  energy,  circumstance  —  these  mark 
the  true  leader.  Buchanan  was  President,  to  be  sure  — 
as  an  energizing  force  he  was  a  lump  of  clay.  Lincoln 
was  a  directive  power  which  struck  disunion  with  the 
united  energy  of  twenty  million  people.  The  political 
boss  is  not  a  mere  malign  accident.  He  is  a  born  leader 
of  men  behind  whom  a  multitude  gather  because  he  is 
the  man  who  knows  how,  and  the  man  who  can  do. 
He  cannot  be  dislodged  by  elegant  rhetoric  or  by  a  fusil- 
lade of  righteous  indignation.  He  may  be  supplanted 
by  another  man  who  also  knows  how,  and  who  also  can 
do,  but  in  more  abundant  measure.  In  short,  in  politics, 
force  must  become  incarnate  in  order  to  lead  to  achieve- 
ment. "Peace  on  earth  and  good-will  to  men"  would 
be  but  the  platitude  of  philosophers  were  it  not  for  the 
realization  in  the  flesh  of  a  personality  which  has  con- 
strained men  for  ages.  Truth  has  won  no  battles,  justice 
has  created  no  social  safety,  righteousness  is  imbecile, 
except  as  one  and  all  are  incarnate  in  forceful  men. 

It  is  such  men  in  whom  lies  the  hope  of  political  democ- 
racy. Their  essence  is  simple  and  yet  complex.  Brains  ? 
Surely;  there  is  no  magnetism  in  a  political  cabbage. 
Courage?  It  is  the  elemental  qualities  which  win  the 
people  —  all  men  love  a  gallant  fight  against  odds,  and 
the  man  who  dares,  the  man  who  believes  in  himself  so 
thoroughly  that  he  may  be  crushed,  indeed,  but  never 


HARRY  PRATT  JUDSON  *5$ 

yields,  he  is  the  man  whom  we  all  love.  Lawrence,  with 
his  "Don't  give  up  the  ship";  Paul  Jones,  with  his  "I 
have  just  begun  to  fight";  Croghan,  with  his  "Come  and 
take  me";  Old  Hickory,  with  his  toast  at  the  nullification 
banquet,  "The  Federal  Union:  it  must  be  preserved"  — 
these  are  the  men  whose  names  thrill  the  American. 
Honesty?  An  elemental  quality  again  —  we  love  the 
fearless  man,  we  trust  the  transparent  soul  —  we  know 
where  to  find  it  always.  Lincoln  won  universal  faith 
because  he  was  honest  to  the  core;  the  people  believed 
that  what  he  said  that  he  meant,  and  were  sure  that  he 
would  do,  within  the  limits  of  his  power,  exactly  what  he 
promised. 

But  even  with  these  strong  qualities  one  may  still 
fail  in  that  inexplicable  something  which  determines  the 
magnetic  power  of  a  true  leader  of  the  people  —  the 
something  which  makes  a  Jefferson,  a  Jackson,  a  Henry 
Clay,  a  Lincoln,  a  McKinley.  There  is  a  potency  in 
persuasiveness,  in  practicability,  which  the  more  rugged 
fighter  often  lacks.  The  giant  Antaeus,  son  of  earth,  lost 
his  strength  and  was  easily  crushed  by  Hercules  when 
his  feet  left  the  ground.  A  popular  leader  who  loses 
touch  with  the  people  is  a  mere  dreamer  of  dreams.  His 
voice  no  longer  directs  thought  —  he  merely  preaches  to 
the  air. 

There  was  a  day  when  the  absolute  monarch  seemed 
the  ideal  of  human  greatness.  The  names  of  such  are 
scattered  throughout  time  —  but  their  age  has  vanished. 
The  masses  below  have  surged  to  the  surface  —  they  will 
not  be  denied  —  the  age  before  us  is  the  age  of  the  free 
and  aspiring  many.  In  such  an  age  the  strong  man  is 
the  leader  of  thought.    He  wins  following  by  the  con- 


256  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

straint  of  a  powerful  mind  and  a  virile  character.  He 
appeals  to  reason  and  to  the  higher  emotions.  He  looks 
far  into  the  future,  and  his  constructive  imagination  is  a 
lens  through  which  the  people  may  see  clearly  things  as 
they  are  and  as  they  are  to  be.  His  qualities  must  be 
higher  than  those  of  a  despot.  The  freely  followed  leader 
of  a  free  people  is  greater  far  than  emperor  or  king. 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP 

ST.  CLAIR  McKELWAY 
Editor  of  "The  Brooklyn  Eagle" 

(Extract  from  an  address  to  the  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Associa- 
tion, New  York  city,  October  17,  1909.) 

The  open  secret  of  good  citizenship  is  the  open  secret 
of  all  other  good.  It  is  to  do  the  thing  nearest  to  you 
thoroughly  and  well.  A  reversal  of  the  entire  usage  of 
our  political  estimates  should  be  had.  The  most  impor- 
tant officer  to  a  citizen  is  the  officer  who  can  make  life 
hard  or  easy,  fair  or  unjust  to  him.  That  officer  is 
neither  President  nor  governor  nor  mayor.  It  is  alder- 
man or  member  of  the  municipal  council  or  supervisor, 
no  matter  what  the  name  of  the  functionary.  And  the 
officer  next  in  importance  and  power  in  his  ability  to 
affect  the  life  of  the  citizen  is  the  police  or  civil  justice. 
And  after  those  who  have  been  named  is  the  mayor 
or  municipal  chief  magistrate.  Good  citizenship  should 
mean  good  government  if  it  means  anything.  Good 
government  must  begin  with  good  home  government  or 


ST.  CLAIR  McKELWAY  257 

it  will  rarely  get  beyond  it.  Parties  are  men  bunched. 
The  citizen  is  the  unit.  The  home  is  the  basis  of  the 
state  as  well  as  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  heart  of  both, 
and  out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life  for  good  or  ill. 
If  our  local  governments  are  bad,  our  state  governments 
will  be  good,  if  at  all,  by  chance  or  accident. 

If  our  city,  our  village,  our  county,  or  our  township 
be  badly  governed,  not  only  will  our  states  be  badly 
ruled,  and  our  nation  badly  served,  but  our  new  colonies, 
of  which  the  acquisition  and  the  management  entrance, 
while  they  appal,  the  imagination  of  our  people,  will  be 
corruptly  handled.  Let  it  be  understood  that  I  am  an 
expansionist  because  what  I  believe  to  be  good  for  America 
I  believe  to  be  good  for  the  world,  and  what  I  believe 
Americans  have  done  and  can  do  for  themselves,  that  I 
believe  they  can  do  by,  for,  with,  and  through  all  other 
races.  But  because  I  am  an  expansionist,  I  am,  if  I 
may  make  the  word,  a  localist  likewise,  and  intensely 
so.  Only  as  we  make  our  communities  and  our  coun- 
tries what  they  should  be  shall  we  make  our  colonies, 
our  provinces,  or  our  dependencies  what  they  ought  to 
be.  We  shall  be  no  better  to  ourselves  than  we  are  in 
ourselves.  We  shall  be  no  better  to  others  than  we  are 
to  ourselves.  The  moral  lights  which  throw  on  our  own 
path  will  be  the  fire  from  which  we  shall  kindle  the  light 
for  the  path  which  we  carve  out  for  others.  As  our 
communities  and  commonwealths  are,  so  will  our  colonies 
be.    And  as  we  make  ourselves,  so  will  we  make  others. 

Of  this  leavening  Americanism  I  have  strong  hopes. 
Its  essence  and  its  impulse  are  in  that  good  citizenship 
beginning  in  each  man's  case  with  himself  and  extending 
from  him  to  neighbor  and  neighbor,  and  thence  through 


358  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

community,  commonwealth,  and  republic.  I  foresee  and 
I  forefeel  the  time  when,  under  good  citizenship  in  the 
real  sense,  an  Americanized  continent  shall  contemplate 
and  inspire  an  Americanized  world.  Not  a  world  or 
continents  under  single  or  similar  control,  but  with 
governments  moralized  and  spiritualized  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  liberty,  equality,  justice,  and  opportunity,  regu- 
lated by  righteous  law  and  inspired  by  a  righteous  people, 
loving  right,  hating  evil,  helping  the  weak,  restraining 
the  strong,  and  restoring  humanity  to  the  plane  of  human 
brotherhood  whereon  it  shall  walk  hand  in  hand  with 
the  Divine  Fatherhood.  If  this  be  an  error,  as  I  believe 
it  is  not,  it  is  an  error  which  I  revere.  If  this  be  a  delu- 
sion, as  I  think  it  is  not,  it  is  a  delusion  on  which  I  hope 
my  dying  eyes  may  look  with  faith  in  the  conviction  that 
it  shall  yet  enwrap  the  world  within  its  angelic  form. 


THE  NEW  POLITICS 

JACOB  GOULD  SCHURMAN 
President  of  Cornell  University 

(From  an  address  before  the  Religious  Education  Association, 
at  Rochester,  New  York,  February  7,  1907.) 

For  a  long  time  political  parties  and  bosses  have  inter- 
cepted the  outgoings  of  patriotism  by  standing  between 
patriotism  and  the  commonwealth.  To-day  it  is  clear 
that  the  commonwealth  and  not  the  party  is  the  end  of 
patriotism,  and  patriotism  has  free  scope  to  go  out  toward 
its  own  high  object.    If  political  parties  are  to  regain 


JACOB  GOULD  SCHURMAN  259 

vigorous  life  —  as  I  expect  to  see  them  regain  it  —  it 
will  be  by  recognizing  themselves  as  instruments  for 
the  public  good  and  not  in  themselves  of  any  value  as 
mere  agencies  to  win  elections. 

This  fundamental  political  awakening  which  I  have 
described  has  for  its  platform  the  new  or  world-old  prin- 
ciple of  justice  and  the  "square  deal."  It  insists  that 
all  men  shall  be  equal  before  the  law.  It  claims  equality 
of  opportunity.  It  is  at  war  with  vested  rights  and 
favored  classes.  It  protests  against  government  as  a 
partnership  of  the  strong  for  the  exploitation  of  the  weak. 
It  recognizes  that  evils,  political  as  well  as  individual, 
have  their  root  and  abiding  source  in  human  nature. 
But  it  holds  that  the  political  ills  from  which  we  suffer 
may  be  remedied  by  laws  impartially  just  and  adminis- 
tration absolutely  honest.  It  reveres  the  majesty  of  the 
law  and  pays  homage  to  our  courts  of  justice  and  the 
incorruptibility  of  their  judges.  But  it  is  deeply  per- 
suaded that  in  the  executive  and  legislative  branches  of 
our  government  power  and  wealth  have  had  undue  influ- 
ence, often  unconscious  and  unintentional  rather  than 
deliberate,  but  an  influence  nevertheless  which  works 
substantial  hardship  to  large  classes  of  our  people.  And 
it  welcomes  every  measure  of  redress  which,  like  recent 
federal  legislation,  tends  to  protect  the  people  against 
monopolistic  corporations  which  have  it  in  their  power 
to  practise  oppression. 

Justice  is  the  fundamental  characteristic  of  the  state. 
The  realization  of  justice  may  be  said  to  be  the  end  of 
all  legislation  and  all  administration.  And  justice  is  the 
platform  of  the  political  movement  I  have  described  — 
justice  in  all  things,  to  all  parties,  and  in  all  circumstances. 


26o  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

The  time  is  coming  when  not  only  trusts,  but  also  the 
tariff  and  all  other  objects  of  legislation,  will  be  reexam- 
ined in  the  light  of  justice  and  fair  play  to  all  classes  of 
citizens. 

The  new  politics  demands  new  leaders.  Bosses  are 
out  of  date.  The  need  of  to-day  is  not  of  mechanicians 
to  run  a  machine,  but  of  statesmen  to  voice  the  aspira- 
tions of  a  free  and  enlightened  people  and  administrators 
to  execute  them  with  absolute  honesty  and  devotion  to 
public  duty  as  soon  as  they  have  been  enacted  into  law. 
It  is  an  old  saying  that  occasion  breeds  the  men.  This 
truth  I  find  illustrated  before  our  own  eyes.  If  the 
public  service  of  our  day  calls  for  men  of  clarity  of  vision, 
of  sanity  of  judgment,  of  integrity  of  purpose,  men  of 
this  type  are  not  lacking.  We  have  them  in  Folk  at 
the  capital  in  Missouri,  in  Bryan  on  his  Nebraskan  farm, 
in  Hughes  at  the  executive  mansion  in  Albany,  and,  most 
illustrious  of  all,  in  Roosevelt  at  the  White  House  in 
Washington.  In  all  the  years  in  which  I  have  watched 
public  affairs  I  have  never  known  a  time  or  a  country 
in  which  the  demands  of  the  age  and  the  expectations 
of  the  public  challenged  so  potently  all  that  is  best  and 
highest  in  the  minds  of  young  men  who  would  serve  the 
public. 


NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER  261 


DEMOCRACY 

NICHOLAS   MURRAY  BUTLER 
President  of  Columbia  University 

(From  an  address  delivered  at  the  University  of  California, 
March  23,  1009.) 

In  each  of  the  progressive  nations  of  the  earth  it  is 
clearly  recognized  that  the  pressing  questions  of  the 
moment  are  not  so  much  political,  in  the  narrow  sense, 
as  they  are  economic  and  social.  In  Germany,  in  France, 
in  England,  in  Italy,  in  Japan,  and  in  our  own  country 
parliaments  and  legislatures  are  busying  themselves  with 
these  newer  problems,  the  common  characteristic  of  which 
is  that  they  appear  to  involve  in  their  solution  a  vast  and 
rapid  extension  of  the  field  in  which  men  work  collectively 
through  their  political  agents,  rather  than  individually 
through  their  own  wills  and  hands. 

We  Americans  approach  these  present-day  problems 
in  the  spirit  of  democracy,  and  with  more  than  a  century 
of  schooling  in  democracy  behind  us;  but  are  we  quite 
sure  that  we  know  what  democracy  means  and  implies  ? 
For  there  is  a  democracy  false  and  a  democracy  true, 
and  it  is  just  when  the  economic  or  social  problem  presses 
hardest  for  solution  that  the  sharp  contrast  between  the 
two  is  lost  sight  of  and  the  line  which  divides  them  is 
blurred. 

Was  Lord  Byron  right  when  he  cried,  "What  is  democ- 
racy? An  aristocracy  of  blackguards!"  or  was  the 
truth  not  with  Mazzini,  who  defined  democracy  as 
"the  progress  of  all  through  all,  under  the  leadership  of 


262  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  best  and  wisest"?  Everything  depends  upon  the 
answer. 

The  state  is  founded  upon  justice,  and  justice  involves 
liberty,  and  liberty  denies  economic  equality;  because 
equality  of  ability,  of  efficiency,  and  even  of  physical 
force  are  unknown  among  men.  To  secure  an  equality 
which  is  other  than  the  political  equality  incident  to 
liberty,  the  more  efficient  must  be  shackled  that  they 
may  not  outrun  the  less  efficient,  for  there  is  no  known 
device  by  which  the  less  efficient  can  be  spurred  on  to 
equal  the  accomplishment  of  the  more  efficient.  Objec- 
tive conditions  must,  of  course,  be  equalized,  particularly 
those  conditions  which  are  created  by  the  state.  But  this 
is  true  not  because  such  an  equality  is  an  end  in  itself, 
but  because  it  is  essential  to  liberty.  True  democracy 
rejects  the  doctrine  that  mediocrity  is  a  safeguard  for 
liberty,  and  points  to  the  fact  that  the  only  serious  menace 
of  liberty  comes  from  the  predominance  of  monopoly,  of 
privilege,  and  of  majorities.  True  democracy  holds  fast 
to  the  notion  that  fixed  standards  of  right  and  wrong 
are  necessary  to  its  success  and  that  no  resting  place 
is  to  be  found  in  the  verdict  of  authorities,  of  majorities, 
or  of  custom.  It  believes  that  nothing  is  settled  until 
it  is  settled  right,  and  that  no  fear  of  majorities  and 
no  threats  of  the  powerful  should  for  an  instant  be 
allowed  to  check  the  agitation  to  right  a  wrong  or  to 
remedy  an  abuse. 

What  Burke  says  of  Parliament  is  equally  true  of  the 
American  Congress  and  of  American  state  legislatures. 
Their  one  proper  concern  is  the  interest  of  the  whole 
body  politic,  and  the  true  democratic  representative  is 
not  the  cringing,  fawning  tool  of  the  caucus  or  of  the 


NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER  263 

mob,  but  he  who,  rising  to  the  full  stature  of  political 
manhood,  does  not  take  orders,  but  offers  guidance. 

Ever  since  the  Civil  War  the  Congress  has  steadily 
invaded  the  province  of  the  President,  and  has  long 
been  arrogantly  asserting  control  over  his  administrative 
acts.  At  the  moment  it  is  being  urged  to  invade  the 
prerogatives  of  the  judiciary  and  to  curtail  and  regulate 
the  proceedings  in  equity  of  the  United  States  courts  — 
a  field  in  which  the  Congress  has  the  same  right  and 
authority  that  it  has  in  Korea  or  in  British  India,  no 
more  and  no  less.  This  invasion  of  the  executive  and 
judicial  powers  by  the  legislature  is  accompanied  by  an 
effort  to  convince  the  people  at  large  that  the  executive 
power  is  in  some  subtle  way  antagonistic  to  democracy, 
and,  moreover,  that  the  executive  is  invading  or  has 
invaded  the  province  of  the  legislature.  This  latter  cry, 
as  insincere  as  it  is  false,  is  invariably  raised  whenever 
it  is  desired  to  distract  public  attention  from  an  invasion 
of  the  executive  by  the  legislature,  or  when  some  private 
or  privileged  interest  wishes  to  ward  off  from  itself  the 
execution  of  the  people's  laws.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  if 
our  American  political  experience  proves  anything,  it 
proves  that  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government  is 
the  most  efficient  representative  and  spokesman  that  the 
popular  will  has.  So  it  was  with  Lincoln  in  the  Civil 
War;  so  it  was  with  Cleveland  in  the  struggle  for  a  sound 
monetary  system;  so  it  is  with  Roosevelt  in  the  battle 
against  privilege  and  greed. 


264  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY" 


OUR  CONSTITUTIONAL  SYSTEM 

WILLIAM  BOURKE  COCKRAN 
Congressman  from  New  York 

(From  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society 
of  the  city  of  Brooklyn  December  21,  1889.) 

I  have  been  assigned  the  subject  of  "Our  Constitutional 
System  as  Tested  by  a  Century.' '  What  is  this  constitu- 
tional system?  Does  it  consist  of  executive  officers, 
clothed  with  extraordinary  powers,  beside  which  the  meager 
prerogatives  of  constitutional  monarchs  shrink  into  insig- 
nificance? Does  it  consist  of  a  judiciary  armed  with 
power  over  life,  limb,  and  property?  Does  it  consist  of 
legislators,  that  they  may  be  enabled  and  authorized  to 
prefix  the  title  "Honorable"  to  their  names?  Does  it 
consist  of  the  mere  parchment  upon  which  certain  figures 
may  be  traced  and  certain  words  may  be  read  ?  No ! 
Our  constitutional  system  consists  of  the  application  of 
the  eternal  principles  of  justice  to  the  relations  of  men 
to  each  other  under  our  social  compact.  In  the  provi- 
sions that  no  man  can  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property  without  due  process  of  law;  that  all  men  shall 
take  an  equal  part  in  the  affairs  of  government;  that  the 
privilege  of  habeas  corpus  shall  never  be  denied;  that  no 
private  property  shall  be  taken  for  public  uses  without 
proper  compensation,  —  you  have  the  essence  of  our 
constitutional  system,  and  you  have  the  principles  of 
justice  made  the  birthright  of  the  American  citizen, 
beyond  the  disturbance  from  any  source  whatever.  You 
have  the  rule  of  equity  applied  to  your  every-day  exist- 


WILLIAM  BOURKE  COCKRAN  265 

ence.  You  have  rights  guaranteed  to  every  citizen  which 
the  strongest  may  not  invade,  which  the  weakest  is  free 
to  invoke  for  his  own  protection. 

If  we  are  asked  what  have  been  the  practical  effects  of 
this  constitutional  system,  we  have  but  to  tell  our  ques- 
tioner to  look  around  him.  In  the  sight  which  will  meet 
his  eye  will  be  found  the  answer  to  his  question.  On 
every  hand  we  see  liberty  and  order,  prosperity  and 
happiness.  We  see  fields  radiant  with  prosperity,  homes 
on  every  hillside,  where  the  fires  of  liberty  are  kept  alive 
on  the  hearthstones;  neither  fortress  nor  arsenal  casting 
its  grim  shadow  across  the  highway;  laws  dictated  by 
public  opinion  and  obeyed  by  universal  consent. 

It  may  be  that  all  things  human  are  ephemeral;  it 
may  be  that  this  Government,  which  we  love  so  well  and 
in  whose  future  we  believe  so  deeply,  will  be  found  at 
the  dawn  of  some  day  to  have  disappeared.  And  yet 
I  feel  justified  in  believing  that,  as  the  principles  of  jus- 
tice are  eternal,  the  government  which  is  founded  upon 
them  will  last  forever.  Not  as  she  stands  to-day;  I 
know  that  nothing  in  nature  can  remain  inert;  but  I 
believe  she  will  live  to  the  end  of  time,  forever  progressive, 
ever  freer,  ever  greater,  ever  stronger,  ever  more  durable. 
I  believe  that  with  each  successive  force  which  is  liberated 
from  nature;  with  each  new  development  of  science;  with 
each  new  element  that  may  enter  into  the  daily  lives 
of  men,  creating  vast  additions  to  our  wealth,  annihi- 
lating space  and  multiplying  the  fields  of  industry,  our 
constitutional  system  will  be  found  elastic  enough 
to  include  them,  strong  enough  to  regulate  them; 
and  that  our  American  democracy  will  continue  to 
maintain  institutions  which  will   stimulate  patriotism, 


266  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

strengthen  virtue,  and  illuminate  the  world  with  the  light 
of  freedom,  revealing  liberty  hand  in  hand  with  order 
and  prosperity. 


IRISH  INFLUENCE  IN  AMERICA 

WALLACE  McCAMANT 
Of  the  Portland,  Oregon,  Bar 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  public  meeting  held  in 
Portland,  Oregon,  July  24,  1904,  in  introducing  Hon.  Conor  O'Kelley, 
Member  of  Parliament  from  Ireland.) 

For  two  hundred  years  Ireland  has  been  infusing  her 
brain  and  brawn  into  the  American  body  politic.  There 
are  far  more  men  of  Irish  blood  in  America  than  in 
Ireland  itself.  The  population  of  Ireland  is  only  five  mil- 
lion; in  the  United  States  there  are  not  less  than  fifteen 
million  of  Irish  birth  or  extraction. 

In  every  crisis  of  American  history  men  of  Irish  blood 
have  wrought  mightily  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  American 
commonwealth.  Long  prior  to  the  battle  of  Lexington, 
years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  we  find 
men  of  Irish  blood  meeting  in  county  after  county  of 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas  to  hold  up  the 
hands  of  the  patriot  leaders;  always  in  the  van  of  public 
opinion,  always  bravely  proclaiming  the  principles  for 
which  as  free  men  they  were  ready  to  fight  and  die. 
Men  of  Irish  blood  proclaimed  the  Mecklenburg  declara- 
tion of  independence,  defended  the  rail  fence  at  Bunker 
Hill,  made  up  the  rank  and  file  of  the  victorious  armies 
which  at  King's  Mountain  and  the  Cowpens  rolled  back 


WALLACE  McCAMANT  267 

the  tide  of  invasion  in  the  South.  So  predominant  were 
they  in  the  various  regiments  of  the  Pennsylvania  line 
that  "Light-Horse  Harry"  Lee  said,  " These  detachments 
had  better  have  been  called  the  line  of  Ireland."  It  is 
significant  of  their  trustworthiness  and  fidelity  that  when 
Washington  was  apprized  of  the  treason  of  Benedict 
Arnold,  when  he  knew  not  whom  to  trust,  he  at  once 
sent  for  the  Pennsylvania  line,  commanded  by  Anthony 
Wayne,  the  grandson  of  a  Wicklow  County  Irishman,  to 
occupy  West  Point.  These  troops  were  at  Haverstraw, 
distant  sixteen  miles  from  West  Point,  and  Washington's 
message  reached  them  at  one  in  the  morning.  By  two 
o'clock  they  were  on  the  march.  At  six  a.m.  they  reached 
West  Point,  and  Washington  breathed  freely  in  the 
confidence  that  the  Gibraltar  of  the  Hudson  was  safe. 

Irish  brawn  has  built  the  great  railroads  which  bind 
the  east  to  the  west  and  the  north  to  the  south.  Irish 
brain  governs  a  majority  of  our  municipalities.  Men  of 
Irish  blood  have  been  the  dominant  ethnic  strain  in  that 
hardy  race  of  pioneers  who,  throughout  American  history, 
have  been  found  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  with  ax 
on  one  shoulder  and  rifle  on  the  other,  their  faces  turned 
steadily  to  the  west.  The  development  of  the  great  West, 
with  its  harvest  of  benefit  for  the  American  people,  has 
been  made  possible  by  a  liberal  system  of  land  laws, 
which  are  chiefly  the  result  of  the  consecrated  statesman- 
ship of  that  great  leader  of  the  Irish  blood,  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  of  Missouri. 

The  great  lesson  of  history  is  the  beneficence  of  evil. 
The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church.  The 
tortures  of  the  Spanish  inquisition  are  the  birth  pangs  of 
the  great  Dutch  republic.    "Without  shedding  of  blood 


268  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

there  is  no  remission  of  sins."  The  guilt  of  slavery  was 
not  to  be  washed  away  without  the  bloodshed  of  Bull 
Run,  Shiloh,  and  Gettysburg.  From  the  carnage  and 
disorder  of  our  great  Civil  War  we  have  seen  the  American 
republic  arise  to  higher  ideals  and  enlarged  usefulness. 

May  we  not  find  in  this  thought  a  key  to  the  divine 
plan  in  the  history  of  Ireland?  It  was  written  in  the 
eternal  decrees  that  for  two  centuries  men  of  Irish  blood 
should  turn  their  faces  westward  across  the  Atlantic; 
that  their  arms  of  brawn  should  carve  homes  out  of  the 
wilderness;  that  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence should  be  burned  in  upon  their  souls,  and  that 
their  hearts,  burning  with  indignation  at  injustice  in  the 
Emerald  Isle,  should  be  true  as  steel  to  the  great  move- 
ments making  for  liberty  and  fraternity  among  the 
American  people.  Without  absentee  landlords,  evictions, 
famine,  pestilence,  industrial  and  religious  persecution, 
these  things  could  not  have  been.  Without  this  Irish 
immigration  no  King's  Mountain,  no  New  Orleans,  no 
Anthony  Wayne,  no  Andrew  Jackson,  no  Phil  Sheridan, 
no  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  Without  this  immigration  who  can 
tell  how  American  history  would  read? 

"God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform." 

In  His  providence  the  woes  of  Ireland  have  been  over- 
ruled for  the  advantage  of  the  American  people. 


FRANK  J.  SULLIVAN  269 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  IRELAND 

FRANK  J.   SULLIVAN 
Of  the  San  Francisco  Bar 

(The  concluding  part  of  an  address  on  "  The  Influence  of  the 
Gaelic  Tongue  on  the  Common  Law  of  England  and  America," 
delivered  at  San  Francisco  October  4,  1908,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Gaelic  League  of  California.) 

You  remember  when  Patrick  had  fled  from  Ireland  and 
was  again  a  free  man  in  his  own  dear  native  land  his 
sleep  was  continually  disturbed  by  innumerable  messages 
from  the  Irish  people.  He  fancied  he  heard  the  voices 
of  those  who  were  in  the  wood  of  Fochlut,  which  borders 
on  the  western  sea,  crying  out:  "We  entreat  thee,  holy 
youth,  to  come  and  walk  among  us."  Tell  me,  brothers 
and  sisters  of  the  Gael,  is  there  now  no  message  from  the 
hills  and  valleys  of  the  green  isle?  Yes  —  every  round 
tower  and  dismantled  abbey,  every  ivy-grown  castle, 
every  cromlech  and  cairn,  beg  you  and  me  to  remember 
the  glorious  past  of  Erin. 

Is  there  one  among  us  who  has  not  heard  the  sound 
of  ancient  Irish  music  from  every  dell  in  that  fairy  land  ? 
Even  now  the  voices  of  our  ancestors  fall  softly  and 
sweetly  on  our  ears.  Even  now  the  spirits  of  the  mighty 
dead,  whose  steel  has  glittered  on  every  battle-field  of 
Europe  and  America,  call  on  us  to  give  back  to  Ireland 
her  language  and  her  freedom.  Even  now  the  great 
Irish  apostles  of  Scotland  and  of  England  and  of  France, 
of  Germany  and  Iceland  rise  from  their  graves  to  swell 
the  diapason  of  the  music  of  the  Irish  nation's  heart. 


270  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Even  now  the  streams  and  the  rivulets  of  Erin  mingle 
their  silvery  notes  with  the  deep  tones  of  the  waves  of 
great  ocean  to  welcome  the  dawn  of  a  new  life  for  the 
ancient  tongue  of  Ireland. 

Ay,  from  all  these  we  catch  the  murmurs  of  the  chorus 
of  the  great  amen!  From  Ireland's  seas  and  clouds,  from 
Ireland's  sunshine,  and  from  Ireland's  storms  comes  the 
ceaseless  prayer:  Give  us  back  the  language  of  youthful 
Ireland,  the  island  of  saints  and  scholars;  the  island  which 
alone  preserved  the  arts  and  sciences  and  the  Christian 
faith  undefiled  by  the  rude  touch  of  armed  barbarians. 
Give  us  back  the  Gaelic  tongue  which  civilized  Europe 
—  that  tongue  of  which  an  Irish  monarch  wrote  sixteen 
centuries  ago: 

"Sweet  tongue  of  our  Druids,  our  bards  of  past  ages; 
Sweet  tongue  of  our  monarchs,  our  saints,  and  our  sages; 
Sweet  tongue  of  our  heroes  and  free-born  sires  — 
When  we  cease  to  preserve  thee  our  glory  expires." 


SUFFRAGE  FOR  WOMEN 

ANNA  H.   SHAW 
President  of  the  National  Suffrage  Association 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
Chautauqua,  New  York,  August  25,  1009.) 

If  a  democracy  is  a  government  by  the  people,  and 
if  a  republic  is  a  representative  democracy,  then  there 
is  no  such  thing  in  our  country  except  in  the  four  states 
where  both  men  and  women  elect  their  representatives. 
In  all  the  other  states  government  is  by  an  aristocracy 


ANNA  H.  SHAW  271 

of  sex,  for  there  can  be  neither  republic  nor  democracy 
where  one  fraction  of  the  people  governs  another  fraction. 

The  anti-suffragists  assert  that  woman  is  virtually 
represented,  but  I  believe  with  Adams  and  Otis  that 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  virtual  representation  in 
government;  the  people  actually  voting  must  be  author- 
ized to  represent  the  others. 

The  opponents  of  suffrage  urge  that  suffrage  never 
will  come  because  it  has  already  been  voted  down  many 
times.  So  it  has  been  voted  down,  but  so  also  would  the 
ten  commandments  be  voted  down  in  the  state  of  New 
York!  The  value  of  the  movement  does  not  depend 
upon  whether  it  is  voted  up  or  voted  down;  its  impor- 
tance depends  on  whether  it  is  fundamentally  right  or 
not,  and  the  heart  of  the  human  race  is  bound  to  be  ulti- 
mately fundamentally  right. 

To  the  frequent  objection  that  women  are  not  fitted 
for  the  suffrage,  I  answer  that  they  are  better  fitted  for 
it  than  any  class  of  men  in  this  country  have  been  at  the 
time  that  the  suffrage  was  given  to  them.  The  negro, 
the  laboring  man,  the  Revolutionary  soldiers  at  the  time 
of  their  enfranchisement  showed  only  a  small  proportion 
who  could  read  and  write. 

It  is  often  insisted  that  the  reason  why  men  vote  is 
because  they  fight,  yet  the  only  men  who  are  prohibited 
from  voting  are  the  men  in  the  regular  army! 

Why  should  a  feeble  man  vote  because  some  other 
man  can  fight  ?  The  right  should  be  given  to  the  mother 
of  the  fighting  man.  A  democracy  does  not  rest  on 
force.  It  never  did  and  it  never  will.  Rather  does  it 
rest  on  the  education  of  its  people  for  righteousness, 
which  Carlyle  declared  was  a  democracy's  only  hope. 


272  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Democracy  stands  for  three  things:  the  right  of  every 
human  being  to  earn  an  honest  living,  the  right  of  the 
individual  to  reach  his  highest  development,  and  the 
right  of  the  individual  to  serve  the  community  in  citizen- 
ship. Woman  should  have  her  chance  at  each  one  of 
these  aspects  of  democracy,  and  the  ballot  will  gain  the 
chance  for  her.  If  a  thousand  years  without  the  ballot 
has  made  her  only  the  "lovely,  incapable"  creature  that 
she  is  declared  to  be,  then  by  all  means  let  us  see  what 
the  ballot  can  do  for  her.     Doing  creates  fitness. 

Men  and  women  have  their  respective  duties  of  father- 
hood and  motherhood,  but  between  the  extremes  they 
may  meet  in  education,  in  social  service,  and  in  govern- 
ment for  the  help  of  both  men  and  women. 

The  ideals  of  democracy  of  to-morrow  will  apply  the 
principles  of  democracy  of  to-day,  and  to-morrow  there 
is  bound  to  come  the  true  representative  democracy 
wherein  every  member  of  society  has  his  and  her  part. 


WOMAN  AND  THE  SUFFRAGE 

LYMAN  ABBOTT 

(The  concluding  part  of  an  address  on  "Motherhood,"  published 
in  The  Outlook  of  April  10,  1909.) 

Perhaps  the  argument  which  has  been  most  effective 
to  counterbalance  the  objection  of  women  to  assume  the 
responsibilities  of  the  suffrage  has  been  the  argument 
that  they  could  vote  for  the  abolition  of  the  saloon.  In 
the  ancient  legend  St.  George  rescues  the  maiden  from 


LYMAN  ABBOTT  273 

the  dragon.  I  confess  that  I  have  small  sympathy  with 
the  spirit  which  calls  on  the  maiden  to  fight  the  dragon 
and  leaves  St.  George  on  the  other  side  of  the  wall  look- 
ing on  to  see  how  the  conflict  will  terminate.  The  women 
who  are  affected  by  this  argument,  and  perhaps  the 
women  who  use  it,  forget  that  Hebrew  history  had  a 
Jezebel  as  well  as  a  Queen  Esther,  and  European  history 
a  Lucretia  Borgia  and  a  Catherine  de  Medici  as  well 
as  a  Queen  Victoria.  Vice,  ignorance,  and  superstition 
are  not  confined  to  either  sex.  Advocates  of  woman's 
suffrage  aver  improvement  of  conditions  in  woman  suf- 
frage states;  opponents  of  woman's  suffrage  aver  deteri- 
orated conditions  in  woman  suffrage  states.  Into  the 
contention  between  these  two  classes  of  observers,  each 
of  whom  probably  see  what  they  wish  to  see,  I  decline 
to  enter.  I  accept  instead  the  testimony  of  such  impar- 
tial observers  as  the  President  of  the  United  States,  who 
has  said:  "I  am  unable  to  see  that  there  has  been  any 
special  improvement  in  the  position  of  women  in  those 
states  in  the  West  that  have  adopted  woman  suffrage  as 
compared  with  those  states  adjoining  them  that  have  not 
adopted  it.  I  do  not  think  that  giving  the  women  suf- 
frage will  produce  any  marked  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  women."  I  accept  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Root, 
in  a  published  letter  from  him  based  on  his  certainly  large 
opportunities  for  a  study  of  this  question:  "I  do  not 
myself  consider  that  the  granting  of  suffrage  to  women 
would,  under  the  existing  conditions,  be  any  improve- 
ment in  our  system  of  government.  On  the  contrary, 
I  think  it  would  rather  reduce  than  increase  the  electoral 
efficiency  of  our  people."  I  accept  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  James  Bryce,  as  disinterested,  impartial,  and  sym- 


274  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

pathetic  an  observer  of  American  conditions  as  America 
has  ever  known:  "No  evidence  has  come  in  my  way 
tending  to  show  that  politics  either  in  Wyoming  or  in 
Washington  are  in  any  way  purer  than  in  the  adjoining 
states  and  territories.  The  most  that  seems  to  be  alleged 
is  that  they  are  no  worse;  or,  as  the  Americans  express 
it,  'Things  are  very  much  what  they  were  before,  only 
more  so.,,,  This  was  published  in  1888.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  nothing  has  occurred  within  the  last  twenty 
years  materially  to  change  this  judgment. 

President  Roosevelt,  in  his  address  before  the  Mothers' 
Meeting  in  Washington  in  1905,  said,  "The  primary- 
duty  of  the  husband  is  to  be  the  home-maker,  the  bread- 
winner for  his  wife  and  children;  the  primary  duty  of  the 
woman  is  to  be  the  helpmeet,  the  housewife,  and  mother." 
In  these  words  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  gone  to  the  heart  of 
the  woman  question.  The  call  to  woman  to  leave  her 
duty  to  take  up  man's  duties  is  an  impossible  call.  The 
call  on  man  to  impose  on  woman  his  duty,  in  addition 
to  hers,  is  an  unjust  call.  Fathers,  husbands,  brothers, 
speaking  for  the  silent  women,  I  claim  for  them  the  right 
to  be  exempt  in  the  future  from  the  burden  from  which 
they  have  been  exempt  in  the  past.  Mothers,  wives, 
sisters,  I  urge  you  not  to  allow  yourselves  to  be  enticed 
into  assuming  functions  for  which  you  have  no  inclina- 
tion, by  appeals  to  your  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  Woman's 
instinct  is  the  star  that  guides  her  to  her  divinely 
appointed  life,  and  it  guides  to  the  manger  where  an 
infant  is  laid. 


JOHN  H.  VINCENT  275 


THE  GIRL  IN  THE  KITCHEN 

JOHN  H.   VINCENT 
Chancellor  of  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Association 

(Condensed  from  an  address  before  the  Woman's  Club,  Chau- 
tauqua, New  York,  July  13,  1909.) 

There  are  many  fields  of  service  in  life.  We  call  them 
trades,  pursuits,  professions,  callings.  These  demand  a 
variety  of  gifts  and  talents  —  and  of  processes  prepara- 
tory. Some  require  head  work,  others  dexterity,  tact, 
genius.  At  the  root  of  all  attempt  and  achievement  is 
manual  labor  —  the  house  to  be  built,  the  ground  cul- 
tivated, implements  manufactured,  food  provided;  and 
then  come  merchandizing,  banking,  civil  and  political 
devisings,  and  for  all  —  education.  It  is  a  busy  world. 
The  measure  of  value  is  not  alone  in  time  spent  nor 
physical  energy  expended.  Much  depends  on  faculty  and 
quality  of  energy  required,  natural  endowment,  tact, 
ability,  as  when  an  artist  paints  a  picture  worth  one 
thousand  or  ten  thousand  dollars,  the  canvas  is  not 
expensive,  nor  the  pigments;  the  value  is  in  the  soul  of 
the  artist.  Much  also  depends  on  the  ruling  motive 
which  is  really  the  measure  of  merit.  One  artist  paints  a 
picture  that,  by  the  money  he  gains  for  it,  he  may  live 
in  luxurious  ease  and  sensual  gratification.  Here  a  ser- 
vant girl  earns  money  by  hard  toil  to  help  her  brother 
through  college. 

One  of  our  most  important  modern  contributors  to 
civilization  is  the  "girl  in  the  kitchen."  She  may  be 
a  drudge  or  she  may  be  a  queen  —  all  depends  upon 


276  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

her  own  keynote  —  her  motive,  her  ideal,  her  ruling 
purpose. 

The  girl  in  the  kitchen  should  be  the  domestic  artist 
of  the  house,  —  a  queen  of  domestic  science,  respecting 
herself  because  she  follows  a  profession  that  contributes 
to  the  highest  social  conditions,  to  physical  life,  to  the 
gratification  of  appetite,  and  really  to  the  fine  arts  as 
well.  She  should  be  a  lady  in  the  highest  sense  of  that 
title  as  applied  to  an  honorable,  sensible,  genuine  ambi- 
tious woman  who  is  not  ashamed  to  earn  her  own  living 
in  an  honorable  way.  She  should  represent  not  a  "social 
class,  but  a  "profession,"  and  take  her  social  position 
according  to  the  quality  of  her  personality  and  not  accord- 
ing to  the  effete  distinctions  of  a  social  order  —  an  order 
we  ought  by  this  time  to  have  outgrown. 

Let  us  train  our  girls  and  boys  to  love  home,  to  honor 
industry,  to  put  a  true  estimate  on  neatness  and  taste, 
on  economy  and  common  sense,  to  respect  everybody 
who  believes  in  self-support,  to  treat  servants  with  cour- 
tesy and  kindness,  to  honor  a  lady,  whether  dressed  in 
satin  or  linsey-woolsey;  whether  seated  at  the  table  or 
serving  those  who  are  seated  at  it;  and  who  remember 
the  real  measure  of  individual  worth  as  God  estimates 
it  and  as  the  common  sense  of  society  judges  it.  Jesus 
washed  the  feet  of  his  disciples  one  day  —  to  take 
down  their  false  pride  and  lift  the  social  ideals  to  higher 
levels  for  all  the  ages.  Let  our  new  civilization  take 
a  step  forward,  and  value  at  her  real  worth  the  girl  in 
the  kitchen. 


HOMER  T.  WILSON  277 


AMERICA'S  UNCROWNED  QUEEN 

HOMER  T.   WILSON 
A  popular  Southern  lecturer  now  residing  at  San  Antonio,  Texas 

(The  conclusion  of  a  lecture  delivered  many  times  from  the 
lyceum  platform.) 

I  once  looked  upon  England's  Queen,  as  she  passed 
through  the  beautiful  park  in  front  of  Buckingham 
Palace.  I  bared  my  head  and  in  silence  contemplated 
that  noble  woman.  On  her  brow  there  was  a  crown 
brighter  and  more  dazzling  than  the  crown  of  state. 
On  her  person  there  was  a  robe  ornamented  with  the 
flowers  of  unfading  beauty.  All  hail  to  England's  Chris- 
tian Queen!  After  the  grand  procession  passed  by,  I 
stood  beneath  an  ancient  English  oak,  and  my  mind 
crossed  the  sea  to  my  old  Kentucky  home  so  far  away. 
It  was  even  time.  The  evening  lessons  were  finished. 
The  wife  and  mother  read  a  chapter  from  the  story  of 
redeeming  love.  The  little  ones  bowed  with  her  at  the 
same  altar.  I  heard  her  pray,  "Father  in  heaven,  watch 
over  us  while  we  slumber,  and  keep  us  from  all  harm." 
I  heard  her  when  she  said,  "O  God,  protect  the  absent 
one  and  bring  him  safely  across  the  sea."  The  tears 
unbidden  started  down  my  cheek,  and  I  said:  "All  hail 
to  the  queen  of  my  own  precious  home!  On  your  brow 
there  is  a  crown  of  unfading  beauty,  on  your  person 
there  is  a  robe  ornamented  with  the  flowers  of  unfading 
beauty.    All  hail  to  the  queen  of  my  home!" 

If  I  could  walk  through  the  floral  gardens  of  the  world 
and  pluck  the  flowers  of  rarest  beauty  and  sweetest  per- 


278  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

fume,  and  then  select  from  the  crowns  of  kings  and  queens 
the  rarest  jewels  that  glisten  there,  I  would  fashion  them 
into  a  more  beauteous  crown,  and  with  the  hand  of  love 
I  would  place  that  crown  upon  the  brow  of  the  mother 
—  America's  uncrowned  queen. 


EARNESTNESS  AND  THOROUGHNESS 

LEON  HARRISON 
Rabbi  of  Temple  Israel,  St.  Louis 

(Extract  from  a  discourse  before  Temple  Israel,  St.  Louis,  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1909.) 

Our  besetting  vice  as  a  nation  is  superficiality.  Our 
crying  need  is  seriousness,  thoroughness,  earnestness. 
And  this  by  no  means  implies  melancholy,  or  severity,  or 
sour  renunciation.  Indeed  the  really  great  humorists  of 
the  world  have  been  the  mighty  thinkers,  whose  profound 
insight  could  see  and  grasp  the  many  humors  of  men. 
The  grim  Carlyle  was  such  a  one;  and  Jean  Paul  Richter, 
and  our  Dickens  and  Thackeray,  and  George  Eliot,  and 
tender  and  exquisite  Charles  Lamb.  In  all  of  them  the 
tears  lay  very  near  the  surface,  —  close  to  the  smiles. 
They  all  could  see  the  sunbeams  dance  upon  the  waters, 
for  they  had  sounded  also  the  vast  depths  beneath. 

I  ask  for  earnestness  where  it  fits,  and  where  it  counts. 
I  invite  attention  to  the  fact  that  life  is  not  a  farce,  or 
a  sorry  jest,  but  a  drama  of  infinite  moment,  in  which 
we,  the  players,  are  also  the  playwrights  and  the  heroes. 
It  is  our  first  and  last  performance,  without  rehearsal  or 


LEON  HARRISON  279 

correction  or  power  to  change  a  single  word  or  act,  and 
the  verdict  is  final.  It  oppresses  me,  —  this  sense  that 
we  are  spending  not  our  interest  but  our  capital,  that 
our  life  is  shrinking,  visibly,  tangibly,  and  we  have  not 
yet  struck  the  blow  that  was  worth  while,  we  have  not 
yet  lived,  perchance  not  a  single  vivid  immortal  moment. 
And  we  need  to  learn  this  supreme  lesson  at  once,  and 
practise  it  forthwith  while  we  still  may;  and  thereby 
we  will  gain  the  deepest  and  worthiest  satisfaction  in 
life  —  namely,  that  we  have  grown,  that  we  have  gone 
on  from  strength  to  strength,  that  our  building  was 
solid,  four-square,  and  true. 

For  there  are  at  bottom  but  two  grand  divisions  of 
men:  those  whose  life  is  a  makeshift,  a  policy  of  drift, 
a  sequence  of  accidents,  beaded  together  a  little  by 
selfishness  and  greed  and  the  struggle  for  existence  — 
whose  lif e  is  simply  this  and  nothing  more  —  and  those 
whose  life  is  a  plan,  a  deliberate  endeavor  to  reach  a 
goal,  though  it  means  persistence,  sacrifice,  hardship, 
and  long-continued  and  difficult  effort;  following  a  star 
too  often  against  head  winds,  and  a  star  cloud-covered, 
too,  and  invisible. 

Now  there  are  various  fruitful  applications  of  this  cen- 
tral thought,  in  its  different  aspects,  to  the  entire  range 
of  human  activity. 

How  it  helps  us,  in  the  first  place,  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  method  and  the  chief  end  of  education.  What  is 
that  method  and  chief  end?  Is  it  not  that  men  may 
learn  to  think  in  earnest,  to  study  in  earnest  ?  And  what 
that  implies  is  very  obvious.  It  implies  an  intellectual 
conscience,  as  it  were;  a  seriousness  of  purpose  and  of 
method.    It  demands  above  all  a  quality  that  is  far  from 


280  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

being  cultivated  in  America,  at  our  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, as  it  should  be;  it  demands  thoroughness. 

There  are  many  young  men,  aye  and  older  men  too, 
who  do  not  know  what  working  in  dead  earnest  means. 
They  complain  of  being  under  a  cloud;  but  they  are 
darkened  by  their  own  shadow.  They  work  with  their 
eyes  on  the  clock.  They  are  afraid  to  work  too  long,  or 
too  much,  or  too  well.  They  are  afraid  that  they  will 
earn  more  than  their  salaries.  But  the  ten-dollar-a- 
week  clerk  who  is  afraid  of  earning  more  than  that  sum 
will  always  be  a  ten-dollar-a-week  clerk.  For  your  work 
can  mark  your  growth  and  make  your  growth;  it  can 
become  a  strength-giving  and  a  pride.  Nay,  it  may 
become  your  game  and  sport  in  its  increasing  excellence. 
For  in  a  fine  and  worthy  sense,  the  greatest  game  of  all 
is  this  tense  struggle  with  self  and  with  rivals  for  superi- 
ority, for  supremacy.  Were  this  not  graciously  true, 
we  would  all  be  slaves  in  a  bondage  cruelly  perennial 
and  ubiquitous. 

Let  us  not  "go  out  of  the  world  in  the  world's  debt, 
consuming  much  and  producing  nothing;  nor  sit  down 
at  the  feast  of  life  and  go  away  without  paying  the 
reckoning." 

You  will  at  least  be  yourself.    You  will  be  true  to 
yourself,  whether  wreathed  with  laurels  or  with  thorns. 
"They  out-talked  thee,  hissed  thee,  tore  thee; 

Better  men  fared  thus  before  thee; 

Fired  their  ringing  shot  and  passed, 

Hotly  charged,  —  and  fell  at  last. 
"Charge  once  more,  then,  and  be  dumb! 

Let  the  victors,  when  they  come, 

When  the  forts  of  folly  fall, 

Find  thy  body  by  the  wall." 


ALBERT  B.  CUMMINS  281 

THE   " INSURGENT"   REPUBLICANS:   A   REPLY 
TO  SPEAKER  CANNON 

ALBERT  B.   CUMMINS 
United  States  Senator  from  Iowa 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Marquette  Club, 
at  Chicago,  November  9,  1909.) 

A  month  ago  a  distinguished  son  of  Illinois  came  to 
Iowa  obviously  angry  and  therefore  in  one  of  his  hysterical 
moods.  He  made  a  speech  ostensibly  in  defense  of  the 
rules  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  which  was, 
in  fact,  an  assault  upon  those  who  had  opposed  the 
Republican  majority  in  Congress  upon  the  tariff  measure. 
Not  content  with  burning  us  at  the  stake,  he  scattered 
our  ashes  to  the  four  winds  in  order  to  make  sure  that 
we  would  be  lost  to  the  Republican  party  forever  and  ever. 
Warming  to  his  work,  he  made  another  speech  a  few 
days  ago  at  Elgin,  in  which  he  repeated  in  all  the  colors 
of  his  rainbow  phraseology  the  denunciation  of  those 
who  committed  the  horrid  crime  of  voting  against  the 
tariff  bill,  and  again  consigned  them  to  the  lowest  depths 
of  Democratic  perdition;  and  then  to  completely  satisfy 
his  lust  for  blood  he  assigned  to  Senator  La  Follette  and 
myself  a  superheated  chamber  in  this  region  of  the  damned. 
With  all  these  imprecations,  expulsions,  and  extermina- 
tions still  ringing  in  my  ears,  I  feel  like  a  member  of  the 
fated  brigade  of  which  the  poet  sang: 

"Cannon  to  the  right  of  them, 
Cannon  to  the  left  of  them 
Volleyed  and  thundered." 


282  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

It  may  be,  however,  that  I  can  summon  enough  composure 
and  calm  my  shattered  nerves  sufficiently  to  lay  before 
you  some  suggestions  which  appear  to  me  to  be  pertinent 
upon  the  issue  which  has  thus  been  raised.  Let  it  be 
understood,  once  for  all,  that  we  accept  the  challenge 
and  are  ready  for  the  fight. 

It  will  not  avail  Mr.  Cannon  and  his  associates  any- 
thing to  declare  that  we  have  joined  hands  with  the 
Democratic  party,  for  every  intelligent  man  knows  that 
this  is  simply  an  appeal  to  a  blind  passion  and  a  senseless 
prejudice.  The  insurgents  believe  that  the  Republican 
party  is  the  best  instrumentality  to  secure  and  maintain 
good  government.  They  are  proud  of  its  history,  they 
love  its  traditions,  and  I  venture  the  prediction  that  in 
the  campaign  of  next  year  their  voices  will  be  heard 
high  above  all  others  defending  its  doctrines  and  sus- 
taining its  candidates.  Their  struggle  will  be  within  the 
lines,  but  they  will  not  hide  the  truth  as  they  see  it; 
for  they  know  that  if  the  Republican  party  is  to  be  per- 
manently successful,  it  must  be  faithful  to  its  platforms, 
and  must  meet  courageously  and  justly  the  new  age  of 
commerce  and  business  with  its  new  problems  and  ques- 
tions. It  cannot  any  longer  be  progressive  in  its  plat- 
form and  stand  pat  in  its  Congress. 

The  crusade  which  I  intend  to  strengthen  with  all  my 
power  is  a  crusade  for  a  tariff  commission  —  a  perma- 
nent, dignified,  and  independent  tariff  commission;  a 
tariff  commission  that  will  gather  together  the  facts  as 
to  cost  of  production  and  lay  them  before  Congress  and 
the  country.  There  are  millions  of  Republicans  who 
believe  that  tariff  duties  should  not  substantially  exceed 
the  difference  between  the  cost  of  producing  things  here 


JONATHAN  P.  DOLLIVER  283 

and  elsewhere  with  a  fair  profit  added.  I  believe  they 
constitute  a  large  majority  of  the  party;  but  if  they  do 
not,  they  will  in  the  near  future.  They  will  never  quit 
the  fight  until  they  win  the  victory,  and  I  warn  the  men 
who  are  so  vociferous  in  their  decrees  of  expulsion  that 
they  had  better  conserve  their  strength  for  self-defense. 
They  will  need  all  they  have,  and  more. 


AGAINST  THE  PAYNE-ALDRICH  TARIFF  BILL/fo7 

JONATHAN  P.   DOLLIVER 

Late  United  States  Senator  from  Iowa 

(Extract  from  speeches  delivered  in  the  Senate,  1909.) 

If  anybody  will  look  at  the  statistics  he  will  be  satis- 
fied that  this  tariff  bill  shows  an  increase  of  rates  over 
those  of  the  Dingley  schedules.  We  have  now  four  wit- 
nesses —  the  importer,  the  manufacturer,  the  statesman, 
and  the  statistician  —  and  they  unite  in  saying  that  the 
duties  have  been  raised.  But  even  with  those  four  wit- 
nesses I  would  not  dare  to  approach  this  subject  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate,  owing  to  my  want  of  confidence  in 
various  kinds  of  information,  without  going  through  the 
mill  of  the  custom-house  and  applying  these  rates  to  the 
actual  goods  and  merchandise.  The  science  of  logic  must 
have  reached  a  very  unhappy  state  when  that  is  regarded 
as  a  light  form  of  evidence  as  to  what  this  bill  does  to 
cotton  goods. 

The  Senator  from  Wisconsin  took  five  samples  of 
imported  merchandise,  all  of  the  ordinary  character  of 


284  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

ladies*  dress  goods,  to  the  custom-house  in  New  York 
and  had  them  assessed  for  duty,  exactly  as  they  would 
be  assessed  if  introduced  for  the  first  time  from  a  foreign 
country;  and  he  stood  on  this  floor,  with  the  goods  in 
his  hand,  and  the  Finance  Committee  in  full  retreat,  and 
asked  anybody  to  say  whether  that  was  not  conclusive 
evidence  of  what  the  effect  of  this  bill  was  upon  actual 
cotton  goods  brought  into  this  country. 

Some  people  laugh  at  that  kind  of  an  argument.  They 
say  it  is  the  average  we  ought  to  look  at.  The  average 
has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Suppose  there  were  three  of 
us  standing  upon  the  street  corner.  I  have  had  three 
square  meals  that  day.  You  have  had  nothing  to  eat. 
Some  cheerful  statistician  connected  with  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor  or  the  Finance  Committee  of 
the  Senate  comes  up  with  a  pencil  and  undertakes  to 
prove  that  we  have  had  an  average  of  one  meal  apiece. 
That  situation  has  no  sense  in  it,  and  it  has  no  sense  in 
it  when,  to  a  man  complaining  about  duties  being  raised, 
it  is  said,  "Oh,  no;  that  is  the  average  of  1907."  Yet 
that  is  the  exact  sort  of  logic  with  which  we  were  pre- 
sented not  only  the  other  day,  but  last  night,  with  the 
galleries  looking  for  light. 

I  beg  you,  gentlemen,  especially  you  young  men,  who 
will  have  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Republican  party  in 
the  next  twenty  years,  after  a  good  many  of  the  author- 
ities of  to-day  have  disappeared  from  our  affairs,  not  to 
degrade  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  great  deliber- 
ative body,  able  to  cope  with  practical  questions,  to  the 
level  of  an  uneasy  congregation  of  intellectual  come-ons. 

Mr.  President,  I  speak  for  a  state  that  has  never 
failed  in  its  allegiance  to  the  Republican  party.    When 


JONATHAN  P.  DOLLIVER  285 

Massachusetts  was  electing  Benjamin  F.  Butler  governor 
upon  the  Greenback  ticket,  the  state  of  Iowa  was  firm 
in  the  Republican  faith.  When  the  state  of  New  York 
cast  its  electoral  vote  for  Horatio  Seymour  against  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  on  a  platform  repudiating  the  public  debt,  the 
state  of  Iowa  was  firm  in  the  Republican  faith.  When 
the  state  of  Pennsylvania  put  into  her  platform  a  demand 
for  fifty  dollars  per  capita  of  paper  money  manufactured 
by  machinery,  the  state  of  Iowa  was  firm  in  the  Repub- 
lican faith.  And  I  do  not  propose  to  have  the  official 
organs  of  those  who,  out  of  the  Senate  Chamber,  are 
writing  these  schedules  and  perpetuating  them  from  one 
generation  to  another  weaken  the  force  of  what  I  have 
tried  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  American  people  by  false 
witness  against  the  great  community  which  has  given  me 
its  confidence  and  its  commission. 

I  cannot  support  this  measure  because  I  am  opposed 
to  the  methods  by  which  it  has  been  prepared.  A  dis- 
tinguished leader  of  the  Senate  in  the  course  of  the  debate 
took  occasion  to  say  that  nobody  ought  to  speak  dis- 
respectfully of  the  wool  tariff,  of  Schedule  K,  because  it 
was  the  "citadel  of  protection."  I  deny  it.  The  citadel 
of  protection  is  in  the  judgment  and  good  sense  of  the 
American  people  from  one  ocean  to  the  other.  The  citadel 
of  protection  is  the  right,  which  every  American  producer 
who  invests  his  labor  or  his  money  in  an  industrial  enter- 
prise has,  of  living  without  being  disturbed  either  in  his 
employment  or  in  his  reasonable  profit  by  the  competi- 
tion flowing  into  our  market-place  from  other  lands. 
That  is  the  citadel  of  protection,  which  I  shall  defend  in 
the  future,  as  I  have  in  all  the  years  of  my  life,  against 
all  its  enemies.    The  "citadel  of  protection,"  of  which 


286  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  senator  from  Rhode  Island  has  so  often  spoken,  is  a 
fortress  of  cards.  It  will  not  be  possible  to  perpetuate 
the  protective-tariff  system  in  the  United  States  if  local 
interests,  favored  by  experienced  leaders,  are  permitted 
to  say,  "This  is  the  citadel,"  and  from  it  call  out  to 
everybody  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, "If  you  desire  your  constituents  taken  care  of, 
make  your  terms  with  us." 

We  have  seen  in  this  Congress  a  spectacle  that  has 
discouraged  my  heart,  the  spectacle  of  men  being  com- 
pelled to  bargain  with  the  authorities  which  control  the 
Senate  for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  their  own 
people. 


TRIBUTE  TO  GOVERNOR  JOHN  A.  JOHNSON 

CHARLES  EVANS  HUGHES 

Former  Governor  of  New  York;  now  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  in  New  York  city,  November 
28,  1909,  at  a  memorial  service  in  honor  of  John  A.  Johnson,  late 
Governor  of  Minnesota, —  "a  eulogy,"  according  to  the  New  York 
Tribune,  "in  which  the  speaker  varied  warm  personal  tribute  with 
mention  of  the  great  public  lessons  of  the  Western  statesman's 
career,  holding  an  audience  which  packed  the  Broadway  Tabernacle 
so  intent  that  at  its  close  they  forgot,  apparently,  that  they  were 
in  a  church,  and  burst  out  in  a  storm  of  applause.") 

There  is  a  vision  before  me  of  a  gay  party  coming 
down  from  the  lakes  and  the  clouds  at  Lake  Louis,  in  the 
Puget  Sound  country.  The  last  in  that  party,  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Minnesota,  as  I  passed  him  on  the  way  up  the 


CHARLES  EVANS  HUGHES  287 

trail,  said  the  last  good-by.  And  I  remember  saying  to 
myself  as  I  left  him,  "There  is  a  fine  man  —  one  of  the 
finest  men  I  have  ever  known."  In  respect  and  esteem 
for  his  character  and  services  everyone  united,  without 
regard  to  social,  racial,  or  political  division. 

The  revelation  of  his  progress  from  lowliness  and  obscu- 
rity to  a  place  of  high  public  distinction  is  a  benediction 
to  the  entire  country.  Once  more  we  realize  that  our 
resources,  our  true  resources  of  strength  and  of  greatness, 
are  not  to  be  sought  for  in  mine  or  field,  but  reside  in 
man.  When  we  take  account  of  these  resources  we  find 
once  more  impressing  upon  us  that  we  are  not  to  look 
exclusively  to  the  favored  home  of  exceptional  oppor- 
tunity; to  sheltered  childhood,  to  youth  blessed  with 
extraordinary  advantages;  to  those  upon  whom  fortune 
has  smiled  and  who  are  led  along  the  paths  of  life  with 
constant  counsel  and  ready  inspiration.  But  we  must 
take  all  America  within  our  view  —  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  the  unfortunate,  those  who  seem  thrust  aside  from 
the  fair  avenues  of  opportunity,  those  upon  whom  it 
would  seem  a  blight  had  rested  at  the  very  beginning 
of  their  career. 

Probably  to-day  in  some  lowly  home,  where  there  is 
the  hardest  work  to  achieve  even  a  decent  support,  where 
some  little  lad  is  looking  out  on  life  apparently  without 
a  chance,  is  the  future  leader  of  the  great  people  of  this 
nation.  And  because  we  recognize  this  is  a  land  of 
opportunity,  and  rejoice  that  once  more  there  has  been 
furnished  such  a  splendid  example  of  American  oppor- 
tunity, we  find  impressed  upon  us  with  special  force  the 
lesson  of  Governor  Johnson's  life. 

Everybody  likes  to  see  a  poor  boy  attain  success  by 


288  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

industry  and  perseverance,  but  in  Governor  Johnson's 
life  there  was  more  than  the  deprivation  of  poverty, 
more  than  the  mere  lack  of  opportunities  which  many 
enjoy.  It  would  seem  that  at  the  outset  there  was  every- 
thing to  discourage  him,  to  depress  him,  to  make  him 
feel  that  he  was  without  a  chance.  And  so  it  is  not 
simply  that  we  admire  his  career.  We  think  to-day  of 
the  inspiration  that  it  gives.  Every  poor  mother  to-day 
is  helped,  as  she  seeks  to  care  for  her  boy,  in  the  thought 
of  what  Governor  Johnson  did.  Every  young  man  who 
thinks  that  the  odds  are  somewhat  against  him  is  encour- 
aged when  he  thinks  of  what  Governor  Johnson  became. 

Governor  Johnson  was  a  great  public  man.  He  had 
the  shrewdness  to  pierce  sham  and  to  detect  reality,  and 
his  strength  came  not  because  he  had  come  from  obscurity 
by  hard  work  alone,  but  because  in  the  coming  he  had 
continued  morally  sound  and  democratically  just  and 
sympathetic,  traits  and  ideals  which  many  young  men 
in  a  similar  struggle  lose  sight  of. 

And  we  rejoice  that  Governor  Johnson  won  his  way 
to  the  front  with  his  sympathetic  and  his  kindly  disposi- 
tion, without  losing  the  integrity  of  his  character;  which 
only  shows  the  more,  the  greater  the  area  of  his  influence 
and  the  higher  the  position  that  he  attained.  And  there- 
fore it  was  that  he  was  a  public  man  of  strength.  There- 
fore it  was  that  he  had  such  a  strong  hold  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  They  admired  him  for  the  labors  he  had 
gone  through  and  the  victories  he  had  achieved  in  his 
own  individual  career.  But  he  got  their  trust  and  con- 
fidence in  Minnesota  because  in  that  voyage  he  had  not 
jettisoned  his  self-respect  or  his  personal  honor;  and  they 
could  trust  him  as  a  genuine  leader  of  the  people. 


CHARLES  EVANS  HUGHES  289 

He  was  a  man  who  took  a  statesmanlike  view  of  his 
duty.  He  was  sympathetic  with  popular  demands,  but 
at  the  same  time  critical  and  cautious.  People  learned  to 
trust  him  more  the  better  they  knew  him.  His  repeated 
victories  in  a  state  the  majority  of  whose  voters  were 
apparently  of  another  political  faith  showed  what  a 
strong  hold  he  had,  not  simply  upon  the  affectionate 
regard  of  the  people,  but  upon  the  judgment  of  the  people; 
for  Governor  Johnson  could  not  have  carried  Minnesota 
merely  out  of  sentiment.  He  carried  Minnesota  again 
and  again  because  the  sentiment  was  supplemented  by 
sincere  respect  and  by  affection. 

It  falls  to  my  lot  to  come  here  to-day  to  say  a  word  in 
tribute  to  his  memory.  You  are  thinking,  and  all  the 
people  are  thinking,  of  what  a  loss  has  been  sustained 
by  this  country  that  we  love  in  removing  a  man  so  well 
fitted  for  eminent  service  from  the  councils  of  the  state 
and  of  the  nation.  That  loss  many  may  regard  as  irrep- 
arable, but  let  us  not  forget  that  the  very  fact  of  that 
appreciation  of  loss  has  emphasized  the  lessons  of  his 
career,  and,  taken  away  at  the  height  of  his  power  and 
in  the  very  zenith  of  his  strength,  he  will  remain  forever 
an  inspiration  to  American  youth,  an  aid  to  every  honest 
public  officer,  a  security  to  American  public  life,  a  shining 
exemplar  of  a  true  man  of  the  people,  whose  life  was  for 
the  people. 


290  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE-NASSAU:  THE  GREAT 
MODERATE  MAN  IN  HISTORY 

WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 
Author  and  Lecturer,  of  Ithaca,  New  York 

(Extract  from  a  discourse  before  the  European  and  American 
delegates  at  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration,  New  York  city,  Sep- 
tember 21,  1909.) 

Behold  him  in  history,  this  son  of  Juliana  of  Stolberg 
—  William  of  Orange-Nassau,  who  in  later  tradition, 
but  not  by  his  contemporaries,  is  called  Den  Zwijger  — 
William  the  Silent.  Whatever  else  he  be  —  stadholder 
of  Imperial  Majesty,  signer  of  the  proclamation  of  the 
Nobles'  League,  unsheather  of  the  sword  of  revolt,  head 
of  the  beggars  who  shout  "Oranje  Boven"  leader  of 
armies,  rescuer  of  beleaguered  Leyden,  piercer  of  the 
dykes,  diplomatist  unmatched  for  skill  and  craft,  the 
Father  of  the  Fatherland,  the  idol  of  a  grateful  people, 
the  penman  of  one  of  the  grandest  vindications  of  per- 
sonal character  known  either  to  literature  or  history, 
name  him  by  any  title  that  patriotism,  gratitude,  or  admi- 
ration can  summon  forth  from  the  vocabulary  of  earth's 
choicest  tongues  —  we  salute  him,  and  we  ask  you  to 
honor  with  us  William,  son  of  Juliana,  the  great  mod- 
erate man  of  history.  He  it  was,  the  first  pioneer  in 
modern  times  of  spiritual  freedom,  who  believed  that 
"where  persecution  begins,  Christianity  ends."  Before 
Roger  Williams  was  born,  or  Milton  wrote,  or  William 
Penn  began  his  holy  experiment,  or  American  freedom 
of  religion  was  fixed  immutably  both  in  our  state  consti- 


WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS  291 

tution  and  in  that  matchless  national  instrument  of 
1787  —  which,  under  God,  has  dictated  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  almost  every  constitutional  government  in  the 
world,  and  which  ushered  in  the  era  of  the  written  consti- 
tutions of  the  world  —  he  wrote  in  1577  to  the  magistrates 
of  Middelburg,  thereby  laying,  in  his  own  words  hewn 
out  of  the  Rock  of  Ages,  the  corner-stones  first  of  the 
Dutch  and  then  of  the  American  republics: 

"  We  declare  to  you  that  you  have  no  right  to  interfere 
with  the  conscience  of  anyone,  so  long  as  he  has  done 
nothing  that  works  injury  to  another  person  or  a  public 
scandal." 

In  other  words,  the  grandest  of  all  the  gifts  made  by 
mighty  William  and  sealed  by  his  life's  blood  at  Delft, 
when  he  forgave  his  fanatic  murderer,  was  the  spirit 
which  he  bequeathed  to  the  Dutch  republic.  It  was  not 
the  spirit  of  war,  but  of  peace.  His  was  not  the  animus  of 
authority  based  on  force,  but  the  spirit  of  the  religion  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace;  and  this  spirit  was  quickly  and  richly 
manifested  during  that  bloom  of  the  republic,  when  the 
United  Netherlands  was  at  the  van  of  the  world's  progress 
— so  that  we  to-day,  looking  across  the  perspective  of  three 
centuries,  behold  the  rock  whence  we  were  hewn,  the  hole 
of  the  pit  whence  our  treasures  were  digged;  for  in  that  re- 
public we  see  freedom  of  conscience  and  of  the  press,  with 
liberty  for  all  who  would  not  abuse  that  liberty.  And  these 
things  we,  who  are  of  English  blood  and  descent,  see  with 
true  historical  perspective,  in  The  Netherlands;  yes,  even 
before  Milton  had  lifted  up  his  seraph  voice  for  the  freedom 
of  printing,  long  before  the  free  churches  of  England  were 
able  to  come  out  of  the  catacombs  into  the  glorious  light  of 
day,  after  the  Revolution  of  1688  of  glorious  memory. 


292  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

Throughout  the  whole  career  of  William  the  Silent  we 
note  the  spirit  of  a  man  who  felt,  every  moment  of  his 
life,  his  conscious  dependence  upon  God: 

"Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free, 
He  builded  better  than  he  knew." 

First,  by  birth  and  inheritance,  a  Roman  Catholic;  then, 
when  still  a  youth,  by  decision  of  his  parents  and  as  one 
in  the  family,  a  Lutheran;  and  finally,  by  study,  medi- 
tation, and  profound  personal  conviction,  a  Calvinist, 
he  was  henceforth  ever  "tranquil  amid  the  waves." 
Yet  unlike  many  of  his  contemporaries,  even  not  a  few 
of  saintly  name,  like  Marnix  St.  Aldegonde,  William 
believed  that  conscience  should  be  free;  and,  in  sym- 
pathy with  and  first  of  the  large  cities  of  the  world  to 
follow  William's  glorious  example  and  to  build  that  prin- 
ciple as  foundation  and  corner-stone  of  its  history,  was 
the  city  of  the  three  silver  crosses,  the  mother  city  of 
our  Manhattan  city  —  Amsterdam. 

There  on  the  Amstel  and  the  Ii  was  the  municipality 
in  which  every  man  of  good  behavior  who  believed  in 
the  ten  commandments  and  the  everlasting  and  un- 
changeable principles  of  good  neighborliness,  of  humanity 
and  decency,  in  a  word,  of  justice  and  mercy  —  whatever 
might  be  his  way  of  "walking  humbly  with  God"  —  found 
welcome  and  a  home.  What  might  be  their  inner  way 
of  conceiving  truth  or  their  outward  way  of  expressing 
it  in  ritual  was  not  inquired  into.  It  was  no  part  of 
national  or  municipal  business  in  the  Dutch  republic 
to  define  dogmas  or  to  settle  the  ultimate  question  as  to 
the  being  and  nature  of  God.  Within  and  behind  the 
walls  of  the  synagogue,  meeting-house,  mosque,  or  church 
edifice,  men  might  define  their  own  doctrines  and  prac- 


SAMUEL  PARKES  CADMAN  293 

tise  each  his  own  ritual;  but  on  the  streets,  in  public, 
only  the  Golden  Rule  was  known  and  enforced.  On  the 
market,  in  trade,  and  wherever  differing  sorts  of  men 
met  together,  they  lived  in  a  peace  that  fulfilled  again  the 
picture  of  the  lion  and  the  lamb  lying  together  and  the 
weaned  child  playing  on  the  cockatrice's  den.  Jew,  Ana- 
baptist, Catholic,  Protestant,  Muscovite,  Ottoman,  the 
refugees  from  southern  Europe  or  even  those  men  escap- 
ing from  the  iron  hand  of  the  savage  and  cruel  conformists 
of  England  were  welcomed.  Last  and  most  wonderful 
to  relate  —  even  they,  who,  because  they  believed  in 
applying  democracy  to  religion,  were  considered  as  anar- 
chists and  destroyers  of  peace  and  order,  those  Inde- 
pendents, now  called  Congregationalists,  found  a  home 
in  free  Amsterdam.  More  eloquent,  thrilling,  inspiring 
than  Rembrandt's  miracles  in  art  is  the  old  bas-relief 
I  saw  on  a  Hebrew's  house,  which  showed  the  hunted 
bird  escaping  the  hawk;  and  the  refuge  was  named 
"Amsterdam." 


ENGLAND'S  " GRAND  OLD  MAN" 

SAMUEL  PARKES  CADMAN 
Pastor  of  the  Central  Congregational  Church  of  Brooklyn 

(Extract  from  a  pulpit  discourse,  February  6,  19 10,  on  "Lessons 
from  Gladstone's  Life.") 

In  Gladstone's  library  at  Hawarden  Castle  stood  four 
desks.  On  one  would  be  found  a  copy  and  a  translation 
from  Homer.  On  another  rested  a  budget,  the  effects 
of  which  shaped  the  financial  policies  of  many  nations. 


294  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

On  the  third  was  heaped  a  correspondence  which  con- 
nected him  with  all  parts  of  the  world.  On  the  fourth 
one  could  discover  his  masters  in  theology  and  the  latest 
volumes  treating  on  the  divine  science.  He  moved  from 
one  desk  to  another,  spending  on  an  average  two  hours 
at  each.  Labor  was  rest,  change  made  his  recreation  in 
the  midst  of  toil.  When  his  body  demanded  a  course  of 
training,  he  sallied  out  and  felled  a  tree.  In  this  wise 
combination  he  found  his  ability  to  go  the  second  mile 
that  always  counts.  He  did  not  suffer  from  the  delusion 
of  the  gifted  that  his  grand  abilities  excused  him  from 
application.  And  when  a  difficult  task  confronted  him, 
he  bent  his  mighty  strength  to  the  business  like  Ulysses 
bending  his  bow.  Economical  of  time,  prodigal  of  effort, 
delivered  from  monotony,  resurgent  in  vim,  with  religion 
as  his  chief  concern,  Gladstone  made  a  brilliant  and  con- 
crete example  of  the  life  that  we,  as  preachers,  are  always 
telling  you  young  folks  you  ought  to  live. 

Criticise  him  as  you  please,  in  politics,  but  have  no 
doubt  about  his  majesty  as  a  man.  The  sanction  of 
his  maker  rested  on  his  well-ordered  pilgrimage.  His 
quenchless  zeal  for  the  oppressed  and  the  afflicted  sprang 
out  of  this  religion. 

"Thou  gav'st  to  party  strife  the  epic  note, 
And  to  debate  the  thunder  of  the  Lord; 
To  meanest  issues  fire  of  the  Most  High. 
Hence,  eyes  that  ne'er  beheld  thee  now  are  dim, 
And  alien  men  on  alien  shores  lament." 

And  never  was  that  eloquence  used  to  better  ends  than 
when,  in  the  autumn  of  1895,  he  arose  in  his  old  age  to 
make  his  last  great  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  persecuted 
Armenians.    Let  me  quote  a  description  of  the  scene: 


SAMUEL  PARKES  CADMAN  295 

"See  the  old  man  with  slow  and  dragging  steps  advan- 
cing from  the  door  behind  the  platform  to  his  seat  before 
that  sea  of  eager  faces.  The  figure  is  shrunken.  The 
eyelids  droop.  The  cheeks  are  as  parchment.  Now  that 
he  sits,  his  hands  lean  heavily  upon  his  staff.  We  think, 
'Ah!  it  is  too  late;  the  fire  has  flickered  out;  the  speech 
will  be  but  the  dead  echo  of  bygone  glories.'  But  lo! 
he  rises.  The  color  mantles  to  his  face.  He  stands  erect, 
alert.  The  great  eyes  open  full  upon  his  countrymen. 
Yes,  the  first  notes  are  somewhat  feeble,  somewhat 
painful;  but  a  few  minutes  pass,  and  the  noble  voice 
falls  as  the  solemn  music  of  an  organ  on  the  throng.  The 
eloquent  arms  seem  to  weave  a  mystic  garment  for  his 
oratory.  The  involved  sentences  unfold  themselves  with 
a  perfect  lucidity.  The  whole  man  dilates.  The  soul 
breaks  out  through  the  marvelous  lips.  Age?  Not  so! 
This  is  eternal  youth.  He  is  pleading  for  mercy  to  an 
outraged  people,  for  fidelity  to  a  national  obligation,  for 
courage  and  for  conscience  in  a  tremendous  crisis.  And 
the  words  from  the  revised  version  of  the  Psalm  seem 
to  print  themselves  on  the  listener's  heart:  'Thou  hast 
made  him  but  little  lower  than  God,  and  crownest  him 
with  glory  and  honor.'" 

This  was  perhaps  the  last  grand  outburst  of  one  who 
offered  his  daily  prayers  to  God,  who  insisted  upon 
attendance  at  church  as  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen, 
who  never  missed  a  season  of  holy  communion,  who 
read  the  Scriptures,  not  only  privately,  but  in  the  public 
worship  of  his  village  church,  and  whose  eyes  closed  in 
death  while  nations  waited  for  the  last  message  from  the 
chamber  whence  he  entered  into  rest.  "You  have  so 
lived,"  said  one  who  wrote  him  after  he  was  laid  aside 


206  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

by  mortal  sickness,  "that  you  have  kept  the  soul  of 
England  alive." 

Young  men,  this  story  is  England's  imperishable  heri- 
tage to  be  added  to  her  enrichment  of  us  all  by  reason 
of  such  children  as  Alfred  the  Great,  John  Milton,  John 
Hampden,  William  Pitt,  and  Alfred  Tennyson.  But  it 
also  belongs  to  you  and  to  every  man  and  woman  who 
seeks  in  any  calling  to  live  a  pure  and  noble  life.  His 
gifts  were  his  own.  Our  problems  are  hot  his.  New 
occasions  teach  new  duties,  but  so  long  as  our  race  can 
produce  so  Godlike  a  man  as  Gladstone  is  its  candlestick 
in  the  divine  presence  and  its  light  shining  clear  on  the 
path  that  lies  before  us. 


SHAKESPEARE  THE  UNAPPROACHABLE 

EDWARD  H.   RANDOLPH 
Of  the  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  Bar 

(Condensed  from  the  concluding  part  of  an  address  delivered 
before  the  Shakespeare  Society  of  New  York  city,  December  22, 
1905-) 

We  know  something  of  the  influences  operating  upon 
Shakespeare,  but  for  the  rest  we  must  consult  his  immortal 
creations,  endless  in  their  variety:  for  what  phase  of  life 
has  he  not  touched,  what  passions  has  he  not  explored, 
and  are  not  his  characters  more  real  than  living  beings 
themselves?  What  temple  of  fame  holds  so  noble  a 
collection  as  the  endless  gallery  of  his  portraits  ?  What 
is  there  in  the  domain  of  morals,  of  manners,  of  economy, 
of  philosophy,  of  religion,  of  taste,  of  the  conduct  of  life, 


EDWARD  H.  RANDOLPH  297 

that  he  has  not  taught  us?  What  chords  has  he  not 
touched  from  the  deepest  tragic  to  the  lightest  lyric:  he 
has  equality  of  power  in  tragedy,  farce,  narrative,  and 
love  songs,  and  this  power  of  transmitting  the  inmost 
truth  of  things  into  music  and  verse  is  what  makes  him 
not  only  the  greatest  poet,  but  it  makes  him  the 
representative  poet.  This  is  his  supreme  difference 
from  other  poets:  no  idiosyncrasy,  no  mannerisms,  no 
egotisms  creep  into  his  poetry.  There  is  no  exaggeration, 
no  self-assertion,  no  false  relations,  nothing  forced,  all 
as  easy  and  natural  as  the  mountains  slope  up  from  the 
plains,  as  the  rose  unfolds  from  the  bud,  as  the  setting 
sun  sinks  into  the  sea.  His  supreme  greatness  is  simply 
in  transferring  the  inmost  truth  of  things  into  music 
and  verse.     We  feel  it  in  his  lines: 

"Full  many  a  glorious  morning  have  I  seen 
Flatter  the  mountain  tops  with  sovereign  eye, 
Kissing  with  golden  face  the  meadows  green, 
Gilding  pale  streams  with  heavenly  alchemy." 

We  feel  the  association  of  truth  and  music  when  he 
speaks  of  the  sea  as 

"The  murmuring  surge 
That  on  the  unnumbered  idle  pebbles  chafes." 

So  we  come  to  the  supreme  reason  why  we  should 
study  and  explore  all  the  workings  of  this  master  mind. 
First,  because  in  it  is  found  the  largest  and  richest  expres- 
sion of  poetic  thought;  and  more  and  more  mankind  will 
discover  that  we  have  to  turn  to  poetry  to  interpret  life 
for  us,  to  console  us,  to  sustain  us.  Second,  because 
Shakespeare  is  "the  king  of  poetic  strength  and  style 
as  well  as  the  king  of  the  realm  of  thought,  and  has 
given  us  the  most  varied,  the  most  harmonious  verse 


298  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

i 
that  has  ever  sounded  upon  the  human  ear  since  the 
verse  of  the  Greeks."  Not  only  has  he  shaped  and 
colored  the  Anglo-Saxon  thought,  but  he  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  English  language,  as  Wordsworth  in  one 
of  his  sonnets  sings: 

"In  our  halls  is  hung 
Armory  of  the  invincible  knights  of  old: 
We  must  be  free  or  die,  who  speak  the  tongue 
That  Shakespeare  spoke." 

Beyond  this  he  is  not  only  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  poet, 
but  in  his  favor  has  gone  the  definitive  judgment  of  the 
international  amphictyonic  court  of  final  appeal. 

Among  his  contemporaries,  his  greatness  hardly  guessed 
at:  with  the  march  of  ages  his  grandeur  reveals  itself  more 
and  more;  but  what  moved  within  the  great  brain  and  the 
great  heart  of  Shakespeare,  more  wise  and  deep,  perhaps, 
than  all  his  tragedies  and  comedies,  we  shall  never  know; 
it  was  a  matter  for  himself,  and  he  kept  his  secret  with 
the  taciturnity  of  nature: 

"Others  abide  our  question.    Thou  art  free. 
We  ask  and  ask  —  thou  smileth  and  art  still, 
Out-topping  knowledge.     For  the  loftiest  hill 
Who  to  the  stars  uncrowns  his  majesty, 
Planting  his  steadfast  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
Making  the  Heaven  of  Heavens  his  dwelling  place, 
Spares  but  the  cloudy  borders  of  his  base 
To  the  foil'd  searching  of  mortality: 
And  thou  who  didst  the  stars  and  sunbeams  know, 
Self-schooled,  self-scanned,  self-honored,  self-secure, 
Didst  tread  on  earth  unguessed  at  —  better  so! 
All  pains  the  immortal  spirit  must  endure, 
All  weakness  which  impairs,  all  griefs  which  bow 
Find  their  sole  speech  in  thy  victorious  brow." 


THOMAS  BURKE  299 

TRIBUTE  TO  JOHN  B.  ALLEN 

THOMAS   BURKE 

Of  the  Seattle,  Washington,  Bar;  formerly  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Washington  Territory 

(An  excerpt  from  an  address  on  the  "Life  and  Character  of  John 
B.  Allen,"  delivered  before  the  State  Bar  Association  of  the  State 
of  Washington,  1903.) 

I  am  called  upon  to-day  to  perform  a  duty  of  mingled 
sadness  and  pleasure:  of  sadness  when  I  recall  that  the 
one  who  is  at  this  moment  in  all  our  thoughts  was  but 
yesterday,  as  it  were,  in  the  full  flush  of  manhood,  in 
the  full  maturity  of  all  his  powers,  and  that  to-day  he 
has  disappeared  from  our  view  forever;  of  pleasure  when 
I  consider  the  clear  and  honorable  record,  both  in  private 
and  public  life,  which  he  has  left  behind  him  as  an  imper- 
ishable heritage  to  his  family  and  to  the  state  —  for  such 
a  record  is  that  of  John  B.  Allen,  late  United  States 
Senator  from  the  State  of  Washington. 

In  order  to  attain  distinction  in  life  two  things  must 
conspire.  First,  there  must  be  the  opportunity,  and 
next,  there  must  be  the  ability  to  perceive  and  improve 
it.  A  man,  for  example,  might  have  unsurpassed  talent 
for  the  law,  and  yet  if  he  dwelt  in  a  country  like  that 
ruled  by  Peter  the  Great,  where  the  only  law  was  the 
ruler's  will,  his  talent  would  perish  with  him  unknown. 
A  man  might  have  a  genius  for  war  equal  to  that  of 
Caesar  or  Napoleon,  yet  if  his  lot  were  cast  in  a  peaceful 
age  and  in  a  small,  unwarlike  country,  he  might  never 
be  heard  of  as  a  warrior.  If  the  great  War  of  the  Rebellion 
had  been  delayed  twenty-five  years,  Grant,  or  Sherman, 
or  Sheridan  might  never  have  been  known  as  soldiers 


300  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

outside  of  the  army  register.  And  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  if  it  had  been  Allen's  fortune  to  have  lived  his  pro- 
fessional life  in  New  York  city  rather  than  in  Olympia, 
Walla  Walla,  or  Seattle,  he  would  have  risen  to  a  place 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  country. 
He  had  the  ability,  and  only  wanted  the  opportunity 
which  the  larger  field  in  the  East  would  have  afforded  him. 
Mr.  Allen  had  a  kind  and  sympathetic  nature.  He  had 
both  wit  and  humor,  which  he  used  with  telling  effect 
at  the  bar  and  in  his  political  contests.  But  he  never 
used  either  to  inflict  a  wound  even  on  his  bitterest  adver- 
sary.   He  was  indeed  one 

"Whose  wit  in  the  combat,  as  gentle  as  bright, 
Ne'er  carried  a  heart  stain  away  on  its  blade." 

He  was  especially  kind  and  considerate  to  young  men, 
as  scores  throughout  the  state  to-day  will  testify. 

His  private  life  was  a  worthy  background  to  his  pro- 
fessional and  public  career.  I  knew  him  intimately  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  my  acquaintance 
with  him  is  one  of  the  purest  and  most  elevating  treasures 
in  my  memory  of  the  past.  A  more  wholesome  moral 
nature  I  never  knew.  His  mind  had  the  purity  of  that 
of  a  good  woman.  Yet  he  was  no  weakling.  He  did 
not  belong  to  the  insipidly  moral  class.  He  was  in 
every  sense  a  manly  man.  It  is  one  of  the  misfortunes 
of  humankind  that  we  never  value  such  men  at  their 
true  worth  until  we  have  lost  them  forever. 

"For  it  so  falls  out 
That  what  we  have  we  prize  not  to  the  worth 
Whiles  we  enjoy  it,  but  being  lack'd  and  lost, 
Why,  then  we  reck  the  value;  then  we  find 
The  virtue  that  possession  would  not  show  us 
Whiles  it  was  ours." 


WHITELAW  REID  301 

Now  that  he  is  gone,  we  begin  to  realize  our  loss;  and 
to  the  state  he  served  so  well  by  precept,  by  patriotic 
work,  and  by  example,  to  the  bar  of  the  state  whose 
history  he  has  enriched  by  a  professional  career  so  full 
of  honor  and  distinction,  to  his  family  to  whom  he  has 
left  the  most  precious  of  all  inheritances,  the  memory 
of  a  good  man's  life  —  his  loss  is  indeed  irreparable. 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE 

WHITELAW  REID 
American  Ambassador  to  England 

(Condensed  from  an  address  before  the  Authors'  Club,  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  Poe  Centenary,  at  London,  Eng- 
land, March  1,  1909.) 

A  hundred  years  ago  Edgar  Allan  Poe  entered  upon 
his  troubled  life.  Now,  long  after  his  unhappy  death, 
and  long  after  English  and  French  literary  tribunals  have 
accepted  him  as  one  of  the  immortals,  his  countrymen 
yet  wait,  even  beyond  the  century,  still  hesitating  to 
place  him  with  their  other  literary  figures,  some  surely  far 
smaller,  in  their  Hall  of  Fame.  His  genius,  so  promptly 
and  generously  recognized  abroad,  is  of  course  no  longer 
questioned.  But  we  take  pains  to  remember  that  it  ran 
within  certain  narrow  and  sharply  denned  channels;  that  it 
frequently  failed  to  reach  the  highest  and  best  human  emo- 
tions; that  it  was  often  morbid  and  sometimes  repulsive. 

Yet,  with  all  abatements,  Poe's  place  was  surely  in 
the  front  rank,  if  not  at  the  very  head,  among  the  world's 


302  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

tellers  of  short  stories.  Who  has  since  given  us,  in  such 
perfect  English,  the  indefinable  mystery  and  the  shud- 
dering sense  of  implacable  fate,  pervading  air,  earth  and 
sky,  lake  and  forest,  house  and  people,  which  we  all 
recall  whenever  we  think  of  "The  Fall  of  the  House  of 
Usher"?  Where  has  the  fiendish  perfection  of  revenge 
been  presented  more  powerfully,  or  more  briefly,  or  with 
more  artistic  reserve  than  in  "The  Cask  of  Amontillado"? 
Who  was  the  legitimate  and  inspired  forerunner  of  the 
immortal  Sherlock  Holmes  himself,  if  not  the  author  of 
"The  Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue"?  And  who  pointed 
the  way  to  "Treasure  Island,"  if  not  the  author  of  "The 
Gold-Bug"?  Where,  indeed,  are  the  "Tales  of  the  Ara- 
besque and  the  Grotesque"  to  be  surpassed  in  their  own 
field  in  the  literature  of  America,  or  of  England,  or  of 
France,  or  of  the  world? 

But  I  am  not  able  to  think  Poe's  place  in  poetry  so 
high  or  so  secure  as  his  place  in  the  telling  of  short  stories. 
I  admit,  at  once,  the  incomparable  rhythm,  the  mastery 
of  the  wonderful  music  that  may  be  married  to  English 
verse,  the  sad,  haunting  tenderness,  melody,  and  mys- 
tery. The  technique  of  Poe's  poetry  is  perfection.  Yet, 
perfect  as  his  poems  are  of  their  kind,  they  still  seem  to 
me  to  lack  the  highest  poetic  merit  —  the  soul  is  not  in 
them.  How  could  it  be  ?  Here  is  a  man  of  rare  genius 
who  enters  the  poetical  field  with  the  avowed  and  serious 
belief  that  a  long  poem  cannot  exist;  that  the  epic  is  a 
mama,  and  the  didactic  a  heresy;  that  the  truth  has  no 
sympathy  with  the  myrtles;  that,  in  fact,  poetry  must 
be  solely  and  exclusively  the  rhythmical  creation  of 
beauty:  that  with  the  intellect  or  conscience  it  has  only 
collateral  relations,  and  no  concern  whatever  either  with 


HENRY  M.  MacCRACKEN  303 

duty  or  with  truth.  Do  not  think  I  am  misrepresenting 
him.  These  are  his  own  expressions,  not  from  some 
mad  extravaganza  of  his  unhappier  hours,  but  from  his 
soberest  and  most  deliberate  effort  to  define  the  nature 
of  the  poetic  art.  On  such  a  conception  how  could  the 
uttermost  heights  be  attained  ? 

Finally,  let  us  never  forget  Poe's  hard  fate  in  his  own 
choice  of  a  literary  executor  and  biographer.  Not  till 
this  generation  did  he  get  bare  justice  at  home  —  and 
then  best,  perhaps,  in  the  definitive  edition  of  his  works 
and  biography  issued  a  few  years  ago  by  two  associates, 
Professor  Woodberry  of  Columbia  and  the  prominent 
and  lately  mourned  man  of  letters  whom  New  Yorkers 
loved  to  call  their  banker-poet.  It  was  a  pathetic  story 
which  these  editors  had  to  deal  with  and  we  have  to 
remember  to-night.  I  am  not  going  to  dwell  on  it;  I 
am  only  going  to  protest  against  Griswold's  version  of 
it.  Poe  was  not  a  bad  man;  in  many  ways  he  was  tender 
and  lovable  and  loyal.  Certainly  he  was  not  wicked  as 
he  was  painted;  only  pitifully  weak.  Let  those  who  are 
perfect  cast  stones. 


JULIUS  CESAR  AND  JOHN  CALVIN 

HENRY  M.   MacCRACKEN 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York 

(Extract  from  a  lecture  on  "John  Calvin,"  delivered  before  the 
Tappan  Hall  Association,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  November  25,  1888.) 

Even  as  the  lofty  Alps  rise  above  all  other  European 
mountains,  so  in  history  the  race  of  the  Latins  rises 


304  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

above  its  sister  races.  And,  as  among  the  Alps  there 
are  two  peaks,  and  two  only,  that  transcend  by  thou- 
sands of  feet  their  fellows:  the  one  looking  to  the  south, 
over  sunny  Italy;  the  other  looking  toward  the  north, 
over  fair  France  —  the  so-called  Rose  Mountain  and  the 
White  Mountain;  so  from  the  whole  multitude  of  the 
race  of  the  Latins  there  rise  just  two  men,  far  transcending 
all  other  Latins;  one  looking  toward  the  south,  the  other 
looking  toward  the  north;  one  belonging  to  ancient  days, 
the  other  to  modern:  Julius  Caesar  and  John  Calvin. 

Come  with  me  to  look  upon  the  two  as  they  enter  each 
his  final  field  of  effort,  at  the  youthful  age  of  twenty- 
seven. 

Yonder,  Julius  Caesar,  thin,  tall,  sallow,  and  not  a 
very  well-to-do  young  lawyer,  is  entering,  after  long 
absence,  the  city  of  Rome.  Here,  John  Calvin,  thin,  tall, 
sallow,  and  a  not  very  well-to-do  young  lawyer,  preacher 
also,  and  author,  is  entering  a  hotel  in  Geneva. 

Yon  Caesar,  when  a  wanderer,  had  it  said  of  him  by 
Sulla,  the  chief  of  the  Roman  oligarchy:  "This  youth 
will  one  day  overthrow  our  aristocracy.  In  this  young 
Caesar  there  is  many  a  Marius."  This  Calvin,  when  a 
wanderer,  had  it  said  of  him  by  Erasmus,  the  chief  scholar 
in  the  pay  of  the  Roman  hierarchy:  "I  see  there  [in 
Calvin]  a  great  plague  in  the  Church,  ready  to  break  out 
against  the  Church." 

Yon  Caesar,  entering  Rome  at  twenty-seven  years  of 
age,  has  not  been  an  idler  during  his  seven  years  of  travel, 
but  has  studied  well  —  studied  books  in  Greece  and  mili- 
tary arts  in  Asia  —  and  has  done  some  battling  already 
at  his  own  vocation,  with  pirates  and  Parthians,  his 
favorite  motto  being,  "There  is  nothing  that  can  stand 


HENRY  M.  MacCRACKEN  305 

against  Caesar I"  This  Calvin,  entering  Geneva  at 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  has  not  been  an  idler  during 
his  five  years  of  travel,  but  has  studied  well  —  studied 
books  in  south  France,  on  the  Rhine,  and  in  Italy,  and 
has  done  some  warring  already,  at  his  own  vocation, 
with  papists  and  pagans,  his  frequent  text,  used  over 
and  over,  "If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?" 

At  fifty-five  years  died  the  great  Latin  of  ancient  days, 
stricken  by  the  hands  of  men,  such  as  Brutus,  whom  he 
had  cherished!  Caesar  died  thus  because  he  had  lived 
upon  so  low  a  level  of  regard  for  his  fellowmen.  And 
when  Caesar  was  dead,  his  shrewd  adherent,  Antony,  by 
artful  appeals,  stirred  the  populace  to  mourn  his  dying, 
and,  in  their  fury,  to  even  devote  the  forum  and  its 
furniture  to  a  funeral  pile,  on  which  was  burned  all  that 
was  left  of  Caesar!  So  Caesar  went  down,  like  the  sun 
on  the  sand  of  the  Sahara,  scorching  and  blackening. 

How  different  Calvin,  who  also  died  at  fifty-five! 
Finishing  his  work  in  the  same  number  of  years  as  Caesar, 
Calvin  lay  upon  his  couch,  -and  the  rulers  of  the  republic 
came  and  asked  his  last  counsels,  and  listened  rever- 
ently to  his  last  testimony,  and  took  leave  with  clasped 
hands,  tears  streaming  down  their  cheeks,  as  like  chil- 
dren these  grave  magistrates  parted  from  Calvin  as  their 
father!  So,  also,  his  fellow  pastors  took  their  leave. 
And  then,  as  the  deep  anguish  quenched  his  life,  the 
whole  republic  —  rulers  and  clergy,  university  and 
people  —  bore  him  to  the  cemetery,  and  laid  him,  as 
he  had  requested,  under  the  level  sod,  not  to  be  vexed 
with  stone  or  other  monument.  There,  as  of  Moses* 
sepulcher,  no  man  knoweth  of  Calvin's  sepulcher  until 
this  day. 


306  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

So  John  Calvin's  sun  set  on  this  world  as  the  sun  goes 
down  on  the  verdure  of  Switzerland's  meadows,  warming 
and  cheering,  to  rise  again  on  each  new  to-morrow, 
cheering  and  warming  the  earth  still,  and  as  long  as  sun 
and  moon  shall  endure,  throughout  all  generations. 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  JOHN  MARSHALL 

RICHARD  OLNEY 

Secretary  of  State  during  Cleveland's  second  administration 

(Extract  from  an  oration  delivered  in  Boston,  1901,  the  occasion 
being  the  centenary  celebration  of  the  installation  of  Marshall  as 
first  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.) 

It  is  not  obvious  what  most  of  us  are  born  for,  nor 
why  almost  anyone  might  as  well  not  have  been  born 
at  all.  Occasionally,  however,  it  is  plain  that  a  man 
is  sent  into  the  world  with  a  particular  work  to  perform. 
If  the  man  is  commonly,  though  not  always,  unconscious 
of  this  mission,  his  contemporaries  are  as  a  rule  equally 
blind,  and  it  remains  for  after  generations  to  discover 
that  a  man  has  lived  and  died  for  whom  was  set  an 
appointed  task,  who  has  attempted  and  achieved  it,  and 
who  has  made  the  whole  course  of  history  different  from 
what  it  would  have  been  without  him. 

John  Marshall  had  a  mission  of  that  sort  to  whose 
success  intellect  and  learning  of  the  highest  order,  as 
well  as  special  legal  ability  and  training,  might  well 
have  proved  inadequate.  The  work  Marshall  was  des- 
tined to  undertake  can  be  estimated  only  by  considering 


RICHARD  OLNEY  307 

its  inherent  character.  All  minor  features  being  disre- 
garded, there  are  two  of  capital  importance.  In  the 
first  place,  here  was  a  ship  of  state  just  launched  which 
was  to  be  run  rigidly  by  chart  —  by  sailing  directions 
laid  down  in  advance  and  not  to  be  departed  from,  what- 
ever the  winds  or  the  waves  or  the  surprises  or  perils 
of  the  voyage  —  in  accordance  with  grants  and  limita- 
tions of  power  set  forth  in  writing  and  not  to  be  violated 
or  ignored  except  at  the  risk  and  cost  of  revolution  and 
civil  war.  The  experiment  thus  inaugurated  was  unique 
in  the  history  of  civilized  peoples  and  believed  to  be  of 
immense  consequence  both  to  the  American  people  and 
to  the  human  race.  But  there  were  also  wheels  within 
wheels,  and  the  experiment  of  government  according  to 
a  written  text  entailed  yet  another;  namely,  that  of  a 
judicial  branch  designed  to  keep  all  other  branches 
within  their  prescribed  spheres.  To  that  end  it  was  not 
enough  to  make  the  judicial  branch  independent  of  the 
legislative  and  executive  branches.  It  was  necessary  to 
make  it  the  final  judge  not  only  of  the  powers  of  those 
other  departments,  but  of  its  own  powers  as  well. 

It  was  a  national  judiciary  of  this  sort  of  which  John 
Marshall  became  the  head  one  hundred  years  ago.  That 
he  dominated  his  court  on  all  constitutional  questions  is 
indubitable.  That  he  exercised  his  mastery  with  marvelous 
sagacity  and  tact,  that  he  manifested  a  profound  compre- 
hension of  the  principles  of  our  constitutional  government 
and  declared  them  in  terms  unrivaled  for  their  combina- 
tion of  simplicity  and  exactness,  that  he  justified  his 
judgments  by  reasoning  impregnable  in  point  of  logic 
and  irresistible  in  point  of  persuasiveness  —  has  not  all 
this  been  universally  conceded  for  the  two  generations 


308  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

since  his  death  and  will  it  not  be  found  to  have  been 
universally  voiced  to-day  wherever  throughout  the  land 
this  centenary  has  been  observed?  "All  wrong,"  said 
John  Randolph  of  one  of  Marshall's  opinions,  "all 
wrong  —  but  no  man  in  the  United  States  can  tell  why 
or  wherein  he  is  wrong." 


EULOGY  OF  WILLIAM  B.  ALLISON 

JOHN  W.   DANIEL 

Late  United  States  Senator  from  Virginia 

(Extract  from  a  memorial  address  on  William  B.  Allison,  late 
United  States  Senator  from  Iowa,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  February  21,  1909.) 

A  guide,  a  counselor,  and  a  leader  —  so  to  speak,  a 
father  in  Israel  —  has  left  us  in  the  vanished  form  of 
William  B.  Allison,  to  whom  we  had  become  so  accustomed 
that  his  presence  seems  to  abide.  He  was  a  great  senator, 
even  as  he  was  a  good  citizen  and  a  noble  American.  He 
gave  his  first  fruits  and  the  best  fruits  of  his  life  to  his 
people  and  his  country.  He  left  no  enemies  here.  We 
looked  upon  him  with  friendship,  and  everyone  found  in 
him  a  friend.  He  was  born  at  Perry,  Ohio,  March  2, 
1829.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Dubuque,  Iowa,  on  the 
fourth  day  of  August,  1908,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his 
age. 

Senator  Allison  was  a  man  of  peace  and  a  great  peace- 
maker. He  instinctively  observed  the  wise  admonition 
of  Allen  G.  Thurman  to  "  keep  a  civil  tongue  in  his  mouth." 


JOHN  W.  DANIEL  309 

He  avoided  the  sharp  and  bitter  angles  of  speech  as  well 
as  of  practical  affairs  in  life.  It  was  axiomatic  with  the 
ancients  that  the  middle  way  is  the  safe  way.  It  is  the 
wise  way,  the  way  that  least  tires  the  traveler,  and 
the  way  that  least  breaks  axles  and  harness  and  wheels. 
The  most  experienced  and  best  lawyers  have  always 
settled  their  cases,  when  they  could,  out  of  court,  not 
in  it.  It  was  laughingly  said  of  a  certain  statesman  that 
he  was  so  prone  to  compromise  that  if  a  claimant  de- 
manded both  the  Capitol  and  Library,  he  would  com- 
pound by  saying,  "Well,  take  the  Library  and  leave  us 
the  Capitol."  Allison  was  not  that  kind  or  any  other 
kind  of  a  weakling.  When  he  stood  for  a  principle  to 
which  he  was  devoted,  he  was  as  firm  as  a  rock  and 
believed  that  God  Almighty  hates  a  quitter. 

Moderation  and  patience  were  his  masterful  virtues. 
They  are  not  the  swiftest  coursers  in  the  chariot-race, 
but  they  are  the  surest  footed,  the  strongest,  and  the 
most  dependable  in  the  vast  majority  of  the  affairs  of 
nations  and  of  men.  Neither  the  individual  nor  the 
social  body  can  find  verifiable  progress  without  them. 
They  wreck  no  trains;  they  cut  down  no  trees  to  get  at 
the  fruit.  They  do  not  break  banks  nor  burn  candles  at 
both  ends;  they  join  no  "get-rich-quick"  societies.  They 
bury  no  armies  in  Russian  snows,  they  bring  on  no  revo- 
lutions, and  they  stir  no  schisms.  They  excite  no  hatred, 
but  always  allay  it.  They  may  not  shine  in  the  meteoric 
splendor  that  departs  as  it  illumines,  but  they  do  the 
great  and  wholesome  business  of  man's  existence.  They 
spread  the  ample  board;  they  provide  food  and  raiment; 
they  store  the  fuel  that  makes  summer  by  the  hearth- 
stone of  the  winter  time.    Like  the  sun,  again,  you  may 


310  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

not  see  it  move,  but  it  is  moving  all  the  same,  and  when 
the  day  is  done  it  has  done  its  work  of  vitality  and  cheer 
over  the  wide  landscape. 

These  be  virtues,  the  signal  virtues,  moderation  and 
patience,  which  are  most  of  all  things  to  be  commended 
and  cultivated  in  a  great  republic,  for  the  republic,  of 
all  forms  of  government,  is  the  most  quickly  affected 
by  the  transient  gusts  of  public  opinion.  In  such  wise, 
and  in  such  wise  alone,  can  we  best  serve  America  that 
her  fair  form 

"  Shall  rise  and  shine, 

Make  bright  our  days  and  light  our  dreams, 

Putting  to  shame  with  lips  divine 

The  falsehood  of  extremes." 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 

JOSEPH  H.   CHOATE 
Former  United  States  Ambassador  to  Great  Britain 

(Extract  from  his  inaugural  address  as  President  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Societies  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  March  19,  1904.) 

Revolutionary  periods  produce,  if  they  do  not  create, 
men  of  genius  whom  the  exigencies  of  the  times  demand. 
Whether  they  are  bred  out  of  the  conditions  which 
create  the  revolution,  or  always  exist  in  every  community, 
waiting  for  the  supreme  summons  to  call  them  forth, 
seems  little  to  the  purpose  to  inquire.  The  appointed 
hour  strikes  and  the  man  appears. 

Napoleon,  the  most  consummate  individual  force  in 
modern  history,  evolved  out  of  years  of  terror  and  anarchy 


JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE  311 

to  rescue  a  great  nation  from  chaos,  will  occur  to  every 
one  as  the  most  striking  example.  Lincoln,  of  happier 
destiny,  rising  above  the  bloody  carnage  of  civil  war  to 
save  his  divided  country,  by  striking  the  shackles  from 
four  millions  of  slaves,  and  so  converting  the  doubtful 
war  for  empire  into  a  sublime  and  triumphant  contest 
for  freedom,  seems  to  have  been  providentially  created 
for  that  awful  crisis.  Going  back  to  the  very  beginning 
of  our  young  republic,  when,  after  all  hope  of  conciliation 
with  the  mother  country  was  abandoned,  the  Continental 
Congress  appointed  Washington  as  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  army,  to  withstand  the  overwhelming 
power  of  the  mightiest  of  nations,  and,  by  his  match- 
less patience,  skill,  and  valor,  to  achieve  the  independence 
of  the  colonies,  they  appear  to  have  found  and  selected 
the  one  man  in  all  history  best  qualified  for  that  most 
critical  task. 

In  the  subsequent  making  of  the  new  nation,  which 
the  success  of  Washington  and  his  companions-in-arms 
at  last  rendered  possible,  there  appeared  a  considerable 
body  of  statesmen,  trained  in  political  discussion,  tried 
by  seven  years  of  war,  aroused  by  the  four  years  of 
anarchy  that  succeeded,  whose  combined  wisdom  and 
foresight  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  set  in  motion  the  government  which  it  called  into 
being,  in  a  way  that  to-day  challenges  the  admiration 
and  approval  of  all  thinking  men.  Foremost  among 
these  in  intellectual  brilliancy,  individual  force,  con- 
structive capacity,  and  personal  influence  was  Alexander 
Hamilton. 

Not  that  Hamilton  was  a  man  without  spot  or  blemish. 
He  had  many  glaring  faults,  but  they  were  mostly  the 


312  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

result  of  that  passionate  and  impetuous  nature  which 
was  a  striking  feature  of  his  personality.  This  involved 
him  in  personal  quarrels  which  sadly  interfered  with 
the  plans  and  the  policy  of  the  Federalists,  and  one  of 
which  directly  led  to  their  overthrow.  But  his  com- 
manding talents  and  weight  of  character  were  so  tran- 
scendent, his  genius  for  public  service  so  unfailing,  his 
political  vision  so  clear,  and  his  devotion  to  public  duty 
so  constant,  that  even  these  great  faults  have  hardly 
dimimshed  the  luster  of  his  fame,  or  the  gratitude  of 
his  countrymen  for  his  matchless  services  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  republic.  He  scorned  all  mercenary 
ideas  and  motives,  all  low  ambitions,  and  his  integrity 
was  so  absolute,  and  his  patriotism  so  unselfish  and 
exalted,  that  his  name  and  career  are  a  cherished  national 
treasure. 

The  tragical  death  of  Hamilton  has  done  much  to 
embalm  his  name  in  the  memory  of  his  countrymen. 
Great  as  he  was,  he  was  not  great  enough  to  rise  above 
the  barbarous  and  brutal  theory  and  practise  of  that 
age,  which  sanctioned  and  compelled  a  resort  to  the 
duel  as  the  honorable  mode  of  settling  personal  disputes, 
but  to  which  the  cruel  sacrifice  of  his  precious  life  put 
an  end,  at  least  in  the  northern  states.  Two  years 
before,  he  had  followed  to  the  grave  his  eldest  son,  a 
victim  to  the  same  senseless  code  of  honor,  and  now, 
still  in  the  very  prime  of  his  own  life,. at  the  age  of  forty- 
seven,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  career  of  usefulness,  crowned 
with  all  the  laurels  which  his  grateful  country  could 
bestow,  he  was  called  to  meet  his  own  untimely  fate. 
He  accepted  the  challenge,  forced  upon  him  by  his  most 
dangerous   and   unscrupulous   political   adversary,   with 


LUCIAN  LAMAR  KNIGHT  313 

whom  he  had  had  many  bitter  contests,  and  who  was 
at  last  determined  to  be  rid  of  him.  One  glorious  July 
morning,  on  the  heights  of  Weehawken,  overlooking  the 
Hudson  and  in  sight  of  his  own  happy  home  in  New 
York  —  whose  idol  he  had  been  —  they  met  for  the  last 
and  mortal  combat.  Hamilton  fell  fatally  wounded  at 
the  first  shot  of  his  adversary,  having  fired  his  own  pistol 
in  the  air,  and  so  unhappily  and  unworthily  ended  the 
life  of  one  of  the  noblest,  manliest,  and  most  useful  men 
of  whom  we  have  any  record  —  the  trusted  friend  and 
companion  of  Washington  —  and  one  of  the  best  gifts 
of  God  to  the  nation  which  they  labored  together  to 
found. 


"LEE'S  OLD  WAR  HORSE":  LIEUTENANT- 
GENERAL  JAMES  LONGSTREET 

LUCIAN  LAMAR  fcNIGHT 
Editor  of  "The  Georgian" 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  Alumni  Society 
of  the  University  of  Georgia,  June  16,  1908.) 

Before  the  bar  of  public  opinion  I  am  here  to-day  to 
plead  the  cause  of  an  old  soldier  who  sleeps  mantled  in 
the  Confederate  gray;  who,  with  honest  convictions,  took 
an  unpopular  course  during  the  days  of  Reconstruction; 
who,  refusing  to  recant,  died  unwept  and  unforgiven; 
but  who,  in  the  long  reach  of  the  reconciling  years,  will 
yet  find,  I  am  sure,  the  reversal  of  judgment  which  will 
convert  obloquy  into  honor. 


314  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

No  better  soldier  was  there  in  Lee's  army  than  this 
grim  warrior  from  Georgia,  and  well  did  he  merit  the 
title  of  "Lee's  Old  War  Horse."  Following  the  war  he 
engaged  in  the  cotton  brokerage  business  in  New  Orleans, 
and  just  at  that  time  he  was  asked  to  give  his  opinion 
of  the  political  crisis.  In  view  of  the  utter  helplessness 
of  the  South  he  felt  that  the  best  way  to  accomplish  the 
removal  of  the  incubus  of  Reconstruction  lay  in  the  patient 
acceptance  of  the  situation.  Consequently  he  advised 
the  South  to  submit.  He  lined  himself  squarely  with 
the  Reconstructionists;  and  facing  the  hostile  elements, 
he  seemed  to  say  in  the  words  of  Seneca's  pilot,  aO 
Neptune,  you  can  sink  me  or  you  can  save  me,  but 
whatever  may  be  my  fate,  I  shall  hold  the  rudder  true." 

It  was  an  unpopular  course  which  was  taken  by  Lee's 
Old  War  Horse.  I  know  where  I  would  have  stood  and 
what  I  would  have  done,  for  my  sympathies  have  ever 
been  with  those  who  hurled  the  indignant  protest  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  But  the  course  was  one  which  honest 
convictions  compelled  him  to  take;  one  which  subse- 
quent developments  in  large  measure  served  to  justify; 
one  which  Governor  Brown  took  with  like  results;  one 
which  Mr.  Stephens  advocated  without  leaving  the  Demo- 
cratic party;  and  one  which  General  Lee  himself  is  said 
to  have  counseled  and  approved.  Never  can  I  forget  the 
speech  of  vindication  which  Governor  Brown  delivered 
in  Atlanta  on  the  event  of  his  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  I  was  only  a  lad,  and  Governor  Brown 
was  not  an  orator  to  stir  the  youthful  imagination. 
But  the  echoes  of  the  old  governor's  speech  could  not 
have  been  more  lingering  if  they  had  come  from  the 
bugle  horns  of  Elfland.     He  argued  that  the  logic  of 


LUCIAN  LAMAR  KNIGHT  315 

events  had  established  the  wisdom  of  his  course  during 
the  days  of  Reconstruction;  and  then,  to  cap  the  climax, 
he  drew  from  his  pocket  an  old  letter  to  show  what  another 
Confederate  soldier  thought  of  his  Appomattox  parole. 
It  was  written  from  Lexington,  Virginia.  In  no  uncer- 
tain words  it  commended  the  policy  of  acquiescence  as  the 
one  which  was  best  in  keeping  with  the  terms  of  sur- 
render and  the  one  which  was  most  likely  to  mitigate 
the  evils  of  Reconstruction.  "That  letter,"  said  the  old 
governor,  as  he  held  it  up  before  the  breathless  audience, 
"was  penned  by  the  hand  and  dictated  by  the  heart  of 
that  immortal  hero,  Robert  E.  Lee." 

Georgia's  war  governor  was  sent  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  but  there  was  no  melting  of  the  ice  for  Longstreet. 

Georgia  has  now  recalled  her  Brown  to  sit  side  by  side 
with  her  Hill  in  the  American  Senate;  but  not  yet  has 
she  recalled  her  Longstreet  to  ride  side  by  side  with 
her  Gordon  upon  the  pavements  of  her  capitol.  In  one 
sense  it  is  too  late  to  undo  the  past,  for  it  lies  not  in  the 
voice  of  her  honor  to  provoke  the  silent  dust  nor  in  the 
tongue  of  flattery  to  soothe  the  dull,  cold  ear  of  death; 
but  ere  many  suns  have  risen  and  set  upon  Georgia 
another  silent  figure  on  horseback  will  be  found  guarding 
the  portals  of  her  Capitol.  Gordon's  statue  faces  the 
north,  and  it  tells  how  Gordon  faced  the  north  whether 
in  wrestling  for  victory  or  in  pleading  for  peace.  Long- 
street's  statue  must  face  the  south,  not  only  in  confident 
appeal,  but  with  expectant  look  for  the  vindication  which 
is  sure  to  come  at  last.  Until  it  comes  the  tattered  old 
flag  will  droop  for  shame  from  her  memorial  arches. 
Until  it  comes  the  legend  upon  her  coat  of  arms  will 
be  meaningless  mockery.    Until  it  comes  the  scales  of 


316  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

justice  which  hang  in  her  supreme  court-room  will  flash 
into  her  face  the  mystic  symbols  upon  the  walls  of  Baby- 
lon; and,  though  prosperity  may  belt  her  like  the  bands 
of  Saturn,  it  will  only  wrap  her  in  the  guilty  splendors 
of  Belshazzar's  feast.  But  come  it  will.  So  start  the 
procession  to  the  quarry;  bring  forth  the  granite;  sum- 
mon the  sculptor;  and  prepare  the  chisel;  for  the  old 
commonwealth  at  last,  from  Chickamauga's  dust  to 
Tybee's  light,  is  waking  from  her  sleep.  She  intends  to 
revoke  the  unjust  sentence  which  has  rested  all  too  long 
upon  the  old  knight  whom  Lee  loved;  and  in  the  zeal  of 
her  anxiety  to  render  due  homage  to  the  name  of  Long- 
street  she  will  want  to  proclaim  the  amended  verdict  in 
colors  so  bright  and  in  letters  so  large  that,  standing 
upon  the  battlements  of  Yonah  Mountain,  she  will  have 
to  snatch  the  pencil  of  the  dawn  and  write  it  on  the 
bosom  of  the  stars. 


EULOGY  OF  DAVID  A.  DeARMOND 

WILLIAM  P.   BORLAND 

Congressman  from  Missouri 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives April  9,  19 10,  in  commemoration  of  the  life  and  services  of 
David  A.  DeArmond,  late  a  congressman  from  Missouri.  Mr. 
DeArmond  was  burned  to  death  at  his  home  in  Missouri  while 
attempting  to  rescue  his  grandchild  from  the  flames.) 

The  tragic  death  of  David  DeArmond  removed  sud- 
denly from  the  national  stage  one  of  the  strong  leaders 
of  his  party  and  one  upon  whom  the  most  weighty  responsi- 


WILLIAM  P.  BORLAND  317 

bilities  rested.  No  man  could  have  foreseen  the  inscrut- 
able providence  by  which  such  a  brilliant  career,  so  well 
rounded,  so  tempered  by  the  ripeness  of  experience,  so 
firmly  founded  upon  the  enduring  respect  and  esteem  of 
a  great  constituency,  so  full  of  promise  of  immediate 
and  continual  usefulness,  should  be  brought  to  such  an 
untimely  end. 

The  American  Congress  is  full  of  strong  men,  men  who 
by  their  personality,  native  ability,  and  force  of  character 
have  made  themselves  conspicuous  among  the  thousands 
of  their  fellow  citizens  who  constitute  a  great  congres- 
sional district.  Among  such  strong  men  of  strong  per- 
sonalities this  little  giant  of  the  sixth  Missouri  district 
towered  to  a  conspicuous  place.  It  was  the  force  of 
his  intellect?  Yes,  to  a  certain  extent.  It  was  the 
force  of  his  industry  and  conscientious  devotion  to  duty  ? 
That  also  is  true,  but  was  no  less  true  of  many  other 
men.  The  thing  which  made  DeArmond  great  was  his 
greatness  of  soul,  which  made  his  associates  realize  his 
inflexible  fidelity  to  the  American  principle  of  equal 
rights.  To  him  equal  rights  meant  no  less  the  vigorous 
assertion  of  his  own  proper  claims  and  those  of  the  people 
of  his  district  than  a  just  and  kindly  consideration  of 
the  rights  of  all  people  and  all  districts.  He  would  no 
more  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  others  than  he  would 
permit  the  invasion  of  his  own.  He  was  scrupulously 
exact  in  refusing  any  especial  advantage  to  himself. 
He  would  not  stultify  himself  by  seeking  undue  advan- 
tages or  accepting  undue  favors,  which  he  knew  were 
not  consistent  with  the  justice  which  he  owed  to  others. 
This  trait  of  his  character  was  familiar  to  his  associates 
and  shines  like  a  brilliant  fixed  star,  in  what  is  sometimes 


318  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

regarded  by  the  pessimistic  as  a  black  midnight  of  political 
corruption,  special  privilege,  and  graft.  If  more  public 
servants  had  the  high  courage  of  their  convictions  to 
refuse  unearned  favors  and  special  privileges  to  them- 
selves, there  would  be  no  note  of  pessimism  in  American 
politics.  It  is  the  acceptance  of  favors  not  deserved  and 
of  special  privileges  without  adequate  public  compensa- 
tion that  constitutes  the  first  step  out  of  the  straight  and 
narrow  path  of  honest  self-government  toward  the 
bottomless  pit  of  corruption  and  graft.  No  man  saw 
this  more  clearly  or  lived  it  more  truly  than  David  A. 
DeArmond.  His  life  is  a  lesson  to  all  young  legislators 
and  his  example  should  be  heralded  to  the  world  as  proof 
of  the  eternal  vitality  of  the  principles  of  self-government. 
And  now  he  is  gone,  leaving  the  indelible  impress  of 
his  example  upon  our  national  political  life,  and  having 
written  another  brilliant  page  in  the  rich  and  varied 
history  of  the  great  commonwealth  of  Missouri.  We 
cherish  his  memory  and  add  it  to  our  common  heritage 
of  great  traditions,  which  underlie  like  a  broad  founda- 
tion the  splendid  edifice  of  the  perpetuity  of  our  republic. 

"The  tumult  and  the  shouting  dies, 
The  captains  and  the  kings  depart, 
Still  stands  thine  ancient  sacrifice, 
A  humble  and  a  contrite  heart; 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget!    Lest  we  forget!" 


WILLIAM  A.  DICKSON  319 


EULOGY  OF  ANSELM  J.   McLAURIN 

WILLIAM  A.   DICKSON 
Congressman  from  Mississippi 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives April  10,  1910,  in  commemoration  of  the  life  and  services  of 
Anselm  J.  McLaurin,  late  United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi.) 

Somewhere  I  have  read  that  in  the  beginning  the 
Great  Designer,  conceiving  the  making  of  man,  called 
into  council  those  attendant  ministers  about  the  throne 
of  Omnipotence  —  Justice,  Truth,  and  Mercy  —  and, 
laying  bare  to  them  the  designs  of  Deity,  he  asked  counsel. 
In  answer,  Justice  first  replied,  "O  God  of  Justice,  make 
not  man,  for  he  will  trample  Thy  law  beneath  his  feet 
and  make  of  Justice  a  mockery  on  earth."  Truth,  next 
summoned,  said,  "Make  not  man,  O  God  of  Truth,  for 
he  will  pervert  Thine  own  word,  Thou  God  of  Truth, 
and  make  of  verity  a  mockery  in  the  land."  But  Mercy, 
next  in  turn  summoned,  meekly  came  and  said,  "Make 
him,  0  Thou  God  of  Mercy,  and  give  him  into  my  keep- 
ing, and  I  will  guide  his  footsteps  and  guard  his  walk  on 
earth."  And  He  made  him  and  said,  "Go,  thou  child 
of  Mercy,  and  minister  to  thy  fellows."  Obedient  to  that 
inspiration,  God-given  and  God-felt,  Anselm  McLaurin 
lived,  acted,  and  died.  By  the  God  of  truth,  in  the  light 
of  justice,  and  by  the  measure  of  mercy,  is  he  rewarded. 

Senator  McLaurin  occupied  almost  all  stations  official 
in  the  catalogue  of  the  public  service  of  Mississippi. 
Loyalty  characterized  the  attachment  of  those  who 
followed  his  personal  and  political  fortunes.    Friendship 


320  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

was  his  talisman  and  the  unvarying  majority  attending 
his  every  political  contest  serves  as  an  eloquent  eulogium 
of  his  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  his  people.  He  was  a 
warrior  without  defeat,  a  victor  without  disdain.  No 
sun  ever  set  upon  that  field  of  strife,  whereon  he  was  a 
contestant,  that  marked  the  trailing  of  his  banner  in 
the  wake  of  the  conquered. 

His  last  years  were  his  most  illustrious,  in  that  he  lived 
a  life  that  was  a  lesson,  luminous  and  illustrative  of  the 
best.  The  majestic  Christian  walked  hand  in  hand  with 
the  accomplished  statesman. 

To  him  who  speaks  it  was  permitted  to  see  him  last 
of  all  who  here  with  him  served.  Two  days  after  the 
Thanksgiving  of  the  nation  I  met  him.  It  was  after 
something  of  a  taxing  journey.  The  salutations  passed, 
he  said,  "Will,  I  am  tired.  The  doctor  says  the  valve 
of  my  heart  is  leaking."  It  was  too  true.  Through  that 
greatest  of  his  parts,  his  splendid  soul  was  finding  an 
ebbing  place.  As  came  the  Christmas  tide,  the  recur- 
ring season,  remindful  of  the  Master's  birth,  in  the  heart 
of  his  family,  saying,  "I  feel  better  to-day,"  after  a 
season  of  depression,  his  majestic  soul  took  its  flight, 
without  further  warning. 

Just  a  day  after,  in  the  little  city  of  Brandon,  off  to 
one  side  in  God's  chosen  acre,  where  "the  rude  fore- 
fathers of  the  hamlet  sleep,"  they  laid  him  in  the  gentle 
bosom  of  his  mother.  There  at  last  in  his  windowless 
tenement  he  rests.  The  "dead  Douglas"  has  won  the 
field;  and  in  this  his  last  triumph  we  see  his  greatest 
victory.  He  conquered  self,  but  bent  to  none  but 
God,  and  lived  as  one  who  might  say  of  the  irrevocable 
past: 


CHARLES  F.  AKED  321 

'Out  of  the  night  that  covers  me, 

Black  as  the  pit  from  pole  to  pole, 
I  thank  whatever  gods  there  be 

For  my  unconquerable  soul. 

1  It  matters  not  how  strait  the  gate, 

How  charged  with  punishment  the  goal, 

I  am  the  master  of  my  fate, 
I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul." 


THE  PILGRIM  FAITH 

CHARLES  F.   AKED 
Pastor  of  the  First  Avenue  Baptist  Church  of  New  York  City 

(Extract  from  a  sermon  preached  on  Forefathers'  Sunday,  Decem- 
ber 20,  1908.) 

It  was  in  the  university  city  of  Leyden,  in  Holland, 
nearly  three  hundred  years  ago.  The  congregation  was 
English.  The  preacher  was  a  man  of  fine  presence,  rare 
intellectual  and  spiritual  culture,  and  moving  eloquence. 
One  who  knew  him  in  his  English  home  spoke  of  him  as 
"a  man  utterly  reverenced  in  all  the  city  for  the  grace 
of  God  in  him."  Strong  men  were  shaken  by  their 
emotions  as  by  a  tempest.  Tears  flowed  down  the 
cheeks  of  women.  It  was  a  strange  and  wonderful 
service,  as  the  preacher  spoke  from  this  strange  text: 
"Then  I  proclaimed  a  fast  there,  at  the  river  Ahava, 
that  we  might  humble  ourselves  before  our  God,  to  seek 
of  Him  a  straight  way,  for  us,  and  for  our  little  ones, 
and  for  all  our  substance."  The  remainder  of  that  day 
was  spent  "in  pouring  out  prayers  to  the  Lord  with 


322  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

great  fervency,  mixed  with  abundance  of  tears,"  and  the 
next  in  the  sadness  of  farewells.  On  the  following  day, 
some  on  foot,  some  in  wagons,  more  by  canal-boat,  the 
people  made  their  way  to  D  elf  shaven,  where  the  Speed- 
well swung  at  her  anchor,  and  there  embarked  for  an 
English  port,  only  to  trust  themselves  again  to  the  western 
billows,  in  search  of  a  new  and  nobler  England  over  seas. 
The  men  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  all  the  number- 
less unknown  heroes  who  shared  their  sacrifice  and  toil 
fought  for  liberty  that  they  might  safeguard  and  spread 
spirituality  upon  the  earth.  In  a  single  phrase,  that  is 
the  entire  story  of  their  struggle  against  bigot,  priest, 
and  king.  They  were  very  sure  that  spirituality  could 
not  walk  in  fetters,  and  they  sought  a  free  state  in  order 
that  they  might  build  a  free  church.  Your  fathers 
settled  that  question  for  you  and  settled  it  right,  and 
under  the  Constitution  it  is  settled  forever.  Ours, 
therefore,  is  a  different  task.  We  have  to  serve  and 
save  the  spirituality  of  the  nation  lest  the  liberties  of  the 
land  decay.  For  the  forms  of  democracy  are  precisely 
those  through  which  corruption  most  readily  works  if 
the  spirit  of  democracy  be  dead.  "  Where  there  is  no 
vision  the  people  perish."  And  this  country  without 
ideals,  without  spiritual  vision,  without  a  living  faith, 
without  God,  were  lost  indeed.  So  that  the  question 
which  I  address  to  you:  Do  you  still  believe  in  the  God 
of  your  fathers?  Is  their  faith  yours?  means,  in  its  last 
analysis,  no  less  than  this:  Must  this  nation  be  torn  by 
the  demon  of  anarchy  or  possessed  by  the  genius  of 
liberty?  Shall  we  frankly  confess  our  materialism  and 
live  by  the  world's  base  motto,  "  Every  man  for 
himself  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost,"  or,  by  this 


CHARLES  F.  AKED  323 

higher  motto,  "Every  man  for  his  brother  and  God  for 
us  all"? 

You  have  seen  the  monument  to  the  forefathers  which 
a  grateful  posterity  has  erected  to  their  memory  in 
Plymouth  not  far  from  the  spot  where  first  their  brave 
feet  trod.  Aloft  on  the  huge  central  pedestal  is  Faith.  In 
her  left  hand  she  holds  a  Bible,  with  the  right  she  points 
to  heaven.  On  the  broad  base  beneath  her  Morality 
sits  enthroned,  looking  upward  to  Faith  and  drawing  her 
inspiration  from  her,  for,  as  Mr.  Birrell  has  pointed  out, 
"Faith  is  ever  your  best  manufacturer  of  good  works, 
and  when  her  furnaces  are  blown  out  Morality  suffers." 
On  another  side  of  the  base  is  the  figure  of  Law,  supported 
by  Justice  and  Mercy.  On  a  third  side  is  Education, 
flanked  by  Wisdom,  ripe  with  years,  and  Youth,  led  by 
the  hand  of  Experience.  On  the  remaining  side  is  the 
figure  of  Freedom;  with  one  hand  she  shelters  Peace,  by 
the  other  Tyranny  is  overthrown.  These  figures  stand 
for  the  granite  principles  on  which  the  fathers  of  New 
England  founded  the  greatness  of  the  commonwealth. 

Standing  beneath  their  shadow  I  saw  again  their  glori- 
ous fight  for  freedom.  But  standing  on  Burial  Hill, 
beneath  which  the  ashes  of  the  heroes  rest,  I  saw  a  grander 
sight.  I  saw  right  across  this  continent,  from  the  Atlantic 
billows  westward  to  the  Pacific  main,  from  the  frozen 
north  to  the  glowing  south,  over  mountain  and  prairie 
and  teeming  city  where  free  men  live.  And  I  saw,  or 
thought  I  saw,  further  still.  I  saw  right  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  over  three  thousand  miles  of  tempestuous 
sea,  right  back  to  old  England,  to  the  village  of  Scrooby, 
and  to  Brewster's  farm,  and  to  a  number  of  hunted  men 
gathered  there,  and  John  Robinson  breaking  to  them  the 


324  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

bread  of  life.  And  I  saw  —  oh!  I  saw  it  by  the  eye  of 
faith  which  alone  sees  right  —  I  saw  this  great  nation, 
with  its  wealth  and  its  culture  and  its  power,  visibly 
growing  up  before  my  eyes  out  of  the  spiritual  min- 
istry of  John  Robinson  to  those  daring  souls  and  their 
immovable  fidelity  to  conscience  and  to  God. 


THE  PERMANENCE  OF  PURITAN  PRINCIPLES 

STEWART  L.   WOODFORD 
Former  Ambassador  to  Spain 

(From  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  England 
Society,  New  York  city,  December,  1907.) 

In  1607  Captain  John  Smith  and  his  associates  landed 
at  Jamestown.  In  July,  1609,  Champlain  came  down, 
from  Canada  and  mapped  out  the  shores  of  the  lake 
still  bearing  his  name.  In  September,  1609,  the  Half 
Moon,  a  Dutch  vessel,  chartered  by  the  Holland  or  Dutch 
East  Indian  Company  and  commanded  by  Henry  Hudson, 
an  Englishman,  came  into  the  harbor  of  New  York.  In 
1620  the  Pilgrims  came  to  Plymouth  Rock.  Those  who 
landed  at  Jamestown  were  of  the  gentry  of  England,  and 
found  fertile  fields  where  they  might  make  great  planta- 
tions and  lay  the  beginning  of  the  southern  development 
of  the  nation.  Champlain  located  in  a  strategic  point, 
strategic  because  it  reached  Canada  and  the  north  through 
a  natural  waterway,  and  yet  connected  naturally  with 
the  Great  Lakes  at  the  west.  The  Dutchmen  who 
landed  here  did  not  need  to  come  for  conscience;  they 


STEWART  L.  WOODFORD  325 

did  not  need  to  come  for  free  thought;  they  did  not  need 
to  come  for  free  religion.  They  had  all  these  in  Holland, 
and  they  came  for  the  development  of  a  commercial 
purpose,  and  by  a  singular  coincidence  or  good  fortune 
they  struck  the  only  point  that  was  to  control  the  ulti- 
mate commercial  supremacy  of  this  entire  continent. 
The  New  Englander  came  for  conscience.  He  came  for 
liberty  in  religion.  He  came  for  liberty  in  government, 
and  under  divine  guidance  he  struck  that  spot  where 
these  things  could  best  fructify.  He  struck  the  hard 
soil.  He  struck  a  hard  climate.  He  struck  hard  condi- 
tions and  land  where  there  could  only  be  small  farms, 
and  land  where  there  must  be  suffering,  where  there 
must  be  thrift,  where  there  must  be  industry;  he  struck 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  where  conscience  and  ideals  and 
purposes  were  to  breathe  and  bring  forth  and  develop 
into  their  just  and  best  ultimate.  Jamestown  is  now  a 
pleasant  little  spot  in  an  almost  forgotten  place  on  the 
shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Lake  Champlain  is  visited 
by  tourists,  but  is  no  center  of  things  that  are  done  for 
the  continent.  New  York  stands  the  center  of  the  com- 
mercial supremacy  of  the  nation,  but  New  England  has 
had  the  fortunate  gift,  the  fortunate  opportunity  of 
being  the  land  where  ideals  were  bred,  where  purposes 
were  nurtured,  and  from  which  has  gone  the  influence 
that  has  controlled,  does  control,  and  will  control  this 
continent  for  centuries. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  justly  proud  of  our  past;  we  are 
justly  hopeful  of  our  future.  There  are,  there  will  be 
hard  hours.  Tide  is  not  always  high;  seas  are  not  always 
smooth;  skies  are  not  always  blue;  tempest  and  storm 
must  come.    The  old  New  England  faith  and  the  old 


326  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

New  England  purpose  and  the  old  New  England  energy 
will  lead  in  the  struggle  of  the  future  and  will  bear  our 
flag  higher  and  further  than  it  has  ever  gone,  if  we  are 
only  true  to  the  old  New  England  ideas.  May  God 
give  us  strength,  and  our  children  strength,  to  work. 
Work  is  honorable.  May  He  give  us  strength  to  save; 
frugality  is  honorable;  may  He  give  us  wise  guidance,  for 
wisdom  is  necessary.  But  through  all,  through  stress  and 
through  prosperity,  bear  this  thought  before  us :  The 
republic  will  win  along  the  old  line  of  thrift,  of  industry, 
of  brain,  of  conscience,  or  it  will  not  win  at  all. 


PURITAN  AND  CAVALIER 

DUDLEY  G.   WOOTEN 
Of  the  Seattle,  Washington,  Bar ;  former  Congressman  from  Texas 

(From  a  commencement  address  at  Baylor  University,  June  u, 
1900.) 

There  have  been  at  various  epochs  in  American  his- 
tory two  prevailing  types  of  manhood,  and  they  have 
usually  been  considered  as  representing  distinctly  oppo- 
site types  of  personal,  social,  and  political  principles 
and  habits  of  thought  and  action.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  essential  basis  in  the  character  of  both  types  has 
been  the  same  stern,  stoical,  unbending  devotion  to  duty 
and  principle  for  their  own  sakes  as  duty  and  principle 
appeared  to  each.  The  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier,  — 
how  unlike  and  yet  how  intrinsically  similar  in  the  funda- 
mental qualities  that  gave  consistency  to  their  characters! 


DUDLEY  G.  WOOTEN  327 

The  psalm-singing  saints  of  the  time  of  Cromwell, 
with  their  names  out  of  the  genealogical  tables  of  the 
old  Bible,  their  pious  cant,  self-righteous  airs,  shaven 
pates,  and  rude  scorn  of  all  the  graces  and  courtesies  of 
life,  were  caricatures  of  that  stalwart  Puritanism  that 
saved  England  from  the  licentiousness,  tyranny,  and 
corrupt  materialism  of  the  Stuart  kings  and  courts.  The 
Puritan  faced  a  scoffing  world  with  the  calmness  of  his 
convictions,  and  he  threw  down  the  bloody  head  of  a 
king  as  the  token  of  his  relentless  courage. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  rollicking,  roystering  Cavalier, 
with  his  perfumed  laces  and  flowing  curls,  his  loose  virtue 
and  reckless  daring,  "all  for  drinking,  dicing,  love,  and 
fighting,"  was  the  extravagant  travesty  of  that  resplen- 
dent knighthood  whose  loftiest  aspirations  were  ennobled 
by  the  life  of  a  Raleigh  and  whose  tenderest  chivalry  was 
glorified  on  the  death-bed  of  a  Sydney.  Beneath  the 
gaudy  trappings  and  frivolous  affectation  of  those  essenced 
Cavaliers  of  the  olden  time  there  beat  the  hearts  of  heroes 
and  breathed  the  souls  of  martyrs. 

The  golden  age  of  America's  devotion  to  principle  for 
principle's  sake  was  made  golden  and  glorious  by  the 
same  qualities  that  illuminate  the  lives  of  the  Round- 
heads and  Cavaliers  of  England's  stormy  period  of  revolu- 
tion and  reform.  The  men  whose  names  shine  brightest 
and  whose  memories  smell  sweetest  on  the  roll  of  the 
South's  buried  heroes  were  those  who  added  to  the  Puri- 
tan's faith  and  constancy  the  Cavalier's  courage  and 
chivalric  devotion  to  duty.  The  heart  swells  and  the 
eyes  fill  as  we  think  of  that  gay  and  gallant  host  that 
rode  down  to  death  from  the  plains  and  valleys  of  this 
beauteous  land,  at  the  call  of  their  country's  peril,  in 


328  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

that  dire  crisis  now  nearly  forty  years  ago;  and  it  may  be 
truthfully  said  of  them  all,  living  and  dead,  that  they 
faced  the  carnage  of  battle  and  bore  the  burden  of  dis- 
aster and  defeat  with  all  the  stoical  calm  of  the  Puritan 
martyr  in  his  mightiest  moments  of  consecrated  zeal, 
and  with  all  the  debonair  courage  and  dauntless  devotion 
of  knighthood  in  the  knightliest  age  of  chivalry. 

And  then,  when  we  come  to  contemplate  the  two 
mighty  leaders  who  led  those  fiery  spirits  to  deeds  of 
imperishable  valor  and  fame,  we  behold  the  very  incar- 
nation of  every  virtue  that  may  adorn  both  types  of 
manhood  in  their  highest  exhibitions  of  moral  grandeur. 

Stonewall  Jackson  and  Robert  E.  Lee  —  the  Castor 
and  Pollux  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  —  the  twin 
divinities  of  courage  and  constancy  in  that  mightiest 
struggle  in  the  crimson  calendar  of  war  since  jarring 
discord  shook  the  battlements  of  heaven  —  whose  colossal 
figures  loom  with  larger  majesty  through  the  gathering 
mists  of  time  and  distance,  and  on  whose  brows  the 
shadows  of  the  tomb  have  only  heightened  the  halo  of 
heroic  splendor.  It  is  difficult  to  know  which  was  most 
to  be  admired,  the  consecrated  zeal  and  simple  sincerity 
of  the  one,  or  the  lion-hearted  bravery  and  gentle  dignity 
of  the  other;  but  taken  together  they  represent  the 
blended  virtue  and  vigor  of  humanity  in  its  sublimest 
moods  of  power  and  of  Christianity  in  its  serenest  tri- 
umphs of  charity  and  patience.  When  I  consider  the 
career  of  these  two  men  in  the  zenith  of  their  mature 
manhood  and  martial  glory,  I  always  think  of  the  Wise 
Man's  description  of  his  Beloved,  "Fair  as  the  moon, 
clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners." 
With  the  splendid  fortitude  of  the  ancient  crusader  they 


WILLIAM  HENRY  O'CONNELL  329 

combined  the  fierce  faith  of  the  English  Puritan  and  the 
lofty  spirit  of  the  typical  Cavalier,  while  around  them 
hovered  the  tender  and  reverent  dignity  of  a  cause  that 
enshrined  the  indestructible  ideals  of  a  great-hearted 
people  willing  to  do  and  die  for  its  sacred  beliefs.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  such  chieftains  were  the  idols  of  those 
invincible  hosts  they  marshaled  to  the  fearful  music  of 
the  battle  psalm  and  the  charge,  of  whom  it  can  be 
confidently  affirmed  that  the  world  has  seen  no  such 
warriors  since  Cromwell's  "Ironsides"  swept  the  bloody 
fields  of  Naseby  and  Marston  Moor,  and  Havelock's 
"Saints"  rode  to  victory  'neath  the  walls  of  Lucknow. 


PURITAN  AND   CATHOLIC 

WILLIAM  HENRY  O'CONNELL 
Catholic  Archbishop  of  Boston 

(From  an  address  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  founding 
of  the  Diocese  of  Massachusetts,  October  28,  1908.) 

The  New  England  Puritan,  narrow  of  mind  and  limited 
in  education,  was  not  entirely  to  blame  if  he  accepted 
the  current  and  seemingly  plausible  view  of  the  Catho- 
lics of  that  time.  What  the  Catholic  seemed  in  the  mind 
of  the  Puritan  was  somewhat  natural,  and,  seeing  him 
as  he  did,  he  closed  his  heart  to  him  and  his  kindred.  He 
was  to  be  exiled  first,  if  caught,  and  upon  returning  he 
was  to  be  hanged. 

The  Puritan  has  passed;  the  Catholic  remains.  The 
city  where  a  century  ago  he  came  unwanted  he  has  made 


330  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

his  own.  A  century  has  materialized  a  prosperity  and  a 
growth  undreamed  of  by  his  fathers.  The  little  church 
of  Boston  has  grown  and  expanded  into  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  and  numerous  provinces  of  the  Christian 
world.  The  seed  planted  in  trial  and  watered  with  tears 
has  grown  into  a  mighty  tree.  The  virtue,  the  strength, 
the  beauty  were  all  in  the  seed  —  the  faith  of  Christ 
never  fails  to  flourish  when  there  is  air  and  light  enough 
and  liberty  to  grow.  Persecution  but  impedes  it  only 
for  a  while  —  and  even  while  it  impedes  its  blossoming, 
only  strengthens  the  roots  and  invigorates  the  sap.  The 
first  pastor  of  Boston  well  knew  this  when  he  gave  to 
his  little  church  the  name  of  Holy  Cross.  One  hundred 
years  have  multiplied  one  little  church  into  one  thousand, 
two  priests  into  two  thousand,  one  bishop  into  eight,  and 
the  hundred  faithful,  courageous  souls  into  nearly  three 
millions. 

We  of  to-day  must  prove  our  titles  by  prizing  them 
at  their  true  value.  We  must  fear  no  enmity  and  create 
none.  No  effort  to  misinterpret  our  labors  for  harmony 
must  cool  our  ardor.  No  obstacles  of  ignorance  of  our 
faith  nor  antipathy  to  race  must  discourage  us.  The 
sign  of  the  holy  cross  gleams  high  before  us  Catholics 
of  Boston  and  New  England  as  it  did  upon  the  banners 
of  Constantine  when  the  Church  came  forth  from  the 
catacombs  to  take  her  rightful  place  of  glory  and  triumph 
among  all  tribes  and  peoples.  The  procession  has  started 
—  the  march  toward  our  duty  here,  not  merely  to  our- 
selves, but  to  our  surroundings,  must  proceed.  God 
wills  it  —  our  country  demands  it.  "Let  the  dead  past 
bury  its  dead";  but  not  all  the  past  is  dead. 

The   courage,   the  self-sacrifice,   the   heroism   of  our 


JOHN  BURKE  331 

prelates  and  priests  and  ancestors  will  never  die.  When 
this  city  has  grown  ancient,  when,  mayhap,  many  other 
races  from  other  lands,  mingling  with  your  children's 
children,  gather  around  these  altars  centuries  hence,  as 
we  do  to-day,  to  get  courage  for  the  future  by  meditating 
upon  what  has  been,  the  names  of  Boston's  four  great 
bishops,  the  pioneer  priests,  and  the  earliest  Catholics 
will  still  be  glorified  in  the  history  of  this  land  and  held 
in  eternal  benediction  by  all  who  love  the  blessings  of 
peace  and  law.  The  glory  of  court  and  battle-field  is 
but  a  gilded  bauble  compared  to  the  eternal  glory  which 
true  moral  greatness,  begot  of  faith,  weaves  for  those 
who  in  obscurity  and  hardship  serve  faithfully  God  and 
country,  as  did  the  patriarchs  and  people  of  the  Catholic 
Church  of  New  England  one  hundred  years  ago,  when 
still  all  here  was  in  the  beginning. 


NORTH  DAKOTA  AND  INLAND  WATERWAYS 

JOHN  BURKE 
Governor  of  North  Dakota 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  for  a  meeting  of  the  Deep  Water- 
ways Commission,  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  1907.) 

Up  in  North  Dakota  where  I  live,  the  northwest  is 
'way  up  in  Canada,  and  'way  up  in  Canada  North  Dakota 
is  'way  down  south.  I  was  in  a  customs  office  on  the 
border  between  North  Dakota  and  Manitoba  some  time 
ago  when  a  gentleman,  reporting  in,  remarked  to  the 
customs  official,  "I  have  traveled  around  a  great  deal, 


332  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

but  this  is  the  fartherest  south  I  have  ever  been  in  my 
life  before."  He  returned  the  following  day.  Possibly 
he  feared  that  he  could  not  endure  the  heat  of  our  winters. 

I  mention  this  simply  to  call  your  attention  to  what 
Governor  Cummins  said  last  night  in  his  speech  about 
the  great  Mississippi  valley  being  the  richest  grain  coun- 
try in  the  entire  world.  I  mention  this  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  north  and  west  of  us  lies  a 
great  agricultural  country  with  which  we  are  now  com- 
peting in  the  markets  of  the  world.  I  do  not  know  just 
where  the  northwest  begins  from  Memphis,  so  I  hardly 
know  where  to  commence  talking  about  the  northwest; 
but  if  that  term  includes  the  great  state  of  Iowa,  bounded 
upon  one  side  by  the  Mississippi  and  upon  the  other  by 
the  mighty  Missouri,  surely  no  argument  is  necessary 
to  convince  anyone  of  the  advantages  it  would  be  to 
her  commercially  to  have  those  rivers  navigated.  And 
then,  again,  another  difficulty  might  be  solved,  because 
if  improvement  on  the  Missouri  River  was  such  as  to 
keep  the  old  Missouri  in  bounds,  then  the  electors  on 
election  day  would  know  on  its  boundary  whether  they 
were  in  Iowa  voting  for  Cummins  or  in  Nebraska  voting 
for  Bryan.  Why,  we  have  in  North  Dakota  one  river 
that  flows  down  from  Canada  some  sixty  or  seventy 
miles  and  then,  apparently  disgusted  with  the  neglect 
and  the  indifference  of  the  American  people,  it  turns 
around  and  flows  back  into  Canada. 

Now,  my  friends,  is  it  not  true  that  every  governor  who 
has  appeared  before  you,  that  every  speaker  who  has 
appeared  before  you,  even  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  has  told  you  that  the  railroads  of  this  country 
could  not  longer  handle  the  business  of  the  country? 


JOHN  BURKE  333 

The  reason  is  plain:  Our  growth  and  our  development, 
our  commercial,  our  agricultural  and  commercial  indus- 
tries, have  developed  faster  than  the  railroads.  What 
are  we  to  do  in  the  premises?  Which  one  of  you  is 
willing  to  see  the  great  commercial  industries  of  this 
country  stand  still  until  the  railroads  catch  up?  We 
have  been  growing  and  developing  so  fast  in  our  state 
that  we  have  had  little  time  for  considering  projects  of 
this  kind.  But  you,  my  Missouri  friends,  do  you  think 
that  the  Missourians  who  have  come  to  North  Dakota 
—  you,  my  friends  —  do  you  think  that  the  men  from 
Illinois  and  Iowa  and  from  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  who 
have  come  alone  upon  our  prairies  with  no  friends  but 
their  hands  and  no  capital  but  their  labor,  have  made 
it  to  blossom  as  the  rose,  do  you  believe  that  those  men 
are  willing  that  the  great  industries  of  the  state  shall 
stand  still  until  railroad  development  overtakes  the 
developments  in  other  lines  ?  No,  my  friends,  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  patriotic  people  of  this  country,  when 
they  thoroughly  understand  what  this  movement  means, 
will  stand  in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment  of  your 
designs.  I  believe  that  Yankee  genius  and  Yankee  push 
will  solve  the  problem,  and  I  believe  that  the  patriotism 
of  the  American  people  will  give  them  the  opportunity. 


334  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


PEARY  AND  THE  POLE 

SIMEON  FORD 

Proprietor  of  the  Grand  Union  Hotel,  New  York  City,  and  a 
favorite  after-dinner  speaker 

(Remarks  as  toast-master  at  a  dinner  of  hotel  keepers,  New 
York  city,  1909.) 

The  two  chief  happenings  of  the  year,  viewed  from  a 
scientific  standpoint,  were  the  finding  of  the  North  Pole 
by  Commander  Peary  and  the  loss  of  a  set  of  fine  old 
vintage  whiskers  by  the  gifted  orator  who  is  now  addressing 
you.  Peary  found  his  Pole  way  up  at  the  highest  spot 
in  the  world  except  the  Claremont  restaurant.  I  found 
my  pole  on  the  corner  of  Park  Avenue  and  Forty-first 
Street,  and  it  had  red  and  white  stripes  around  it. 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  Peary's  achievement  because 
he  lived  at  the  Grand  Union  for  two  years  before  sailing 
and  always  paid  his  board  promptly.  He  trained  there. 
He  told  me  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  that  after  what 
he  had  endured  at  our  place  no  hardships  could  daunt 
him ;  that  after  the  cold  deal  we  gave  him  the  Pole 
would  seem  sultry. 

I  contributed  in  my  humble  way  toward  the  discovery. 
I  gave  Peary  my  best  wishes  and  a  copy  of  that  great 
work  which  contains  the  cream  of  my  after-dinner 
speeches.  Peary  used  to  read  it  to  the  Eskimos  during 
the  long  arctic  night,  and  when  the  spring  came  they 
were  willing  and  anxious  to  go  out  and  risk  their  lives 
on  the  ice-floe  providing  Peary  would  shut  off  his  flow. 

Just  before  Peary  got   there  a  Brooklyn  gentleman 


HORACE  PORTER  335 

named  Cook  discovered  the  Pole  from  a  distance  of 
several  hundred  miles.  His  eyesight  had  been  trained, 
down  at  Bradley's,  watching  the  little  ivory  ball  drop 
into  the  wrong  compartment. 

Scientists  have  demonstrated  that  at  the  time  Cook 
discovered  the  Pole  he  was  headed  for  Palm  Beach  and 
going  strong,  but  chancing  to  glance  over  his  shoulder 
—  his  left  shoulder  —  he  thought  he  saw  something  which 
smelled  like  a  Pole.  I  do  not  care  to  take  sides  in  this 
controversy,  but  would  advise  Dr.  Cook  to  take  out  a 
liberal  accident  policy  before  hobnobbing  with  Com- 
mander Peary.  Peary  is  a  man  of  great  physical  strength 
and  undaunted  courage.  I  have  seen  him  go  right  into 
a  restaurant  and  take  a  table  by  a  window  without  even 
asking  the  head  waiter.  A  man  who  does  not  quail 
before  a  head  waiter  is  a  bird. 


THE  ASSIMILATED  DUTCHMAN 

HORACE  PORTER 
Former  United  States  Ambassador  to  France 

(From  a  speech  before  the  Holland  Society  of  New  York  October 
3,  1893.) 

I  have  great  admiration  for  Dutchmen;  they  always 
get  to  the  front.  When  they  appear  in  New  York,  they 
are  always  invited  to  seats  on  the  roof;  and  when  they 
go  into  an  orchestra,  they  are  always  given  one  of  the 
big  fiddles  to  play;  and  when  they  march  in  a  procession, 
they  are  always  sure  to  get  a  little  ahead  of  the  band. 


336  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

This  society  differs  materially  from  other  so-called  foreign 
societies.  When  we  meet  the  English,  we  invariably 
refer  to  the  common  stock  from  which  we  sprang,  but  in 
the  Dutch  Society  the  stock  is  always  preferred!  And 
when  a  Dutchman  dies,  why,  his  funeral  is  like  that 
funeral  of  Abel,  who  was  killed  by  his  brother  Cain  — 
no  one  is  allowed  to  attend  unless  he  belongs  to  a  first 
family. 

And  it  is  well  in  this  material  age,  when  we  are  dwelling 
so  much  upon  posterity,  not  to  be  altogether  oblivious 
to  pedigree.  It  has  been  well  said  that  he  who  does  not 
respect  his  ancestors  will  never  be  likely  to  achieve  any- 
thing for  which  his  descendants  will  respect  him.  Man 
learns  very  little  in  this  world  from  precept;  he  learns 
something  from  experience;  he  learns  much  from  example, 
and  the  "best  teachers  of  humanity  are  the  lives  of 
worthy  men." 

The  men  from  whom  you  sprang  were  well  calculated 
to  carry  on  the  great  work  undertaken  by  them.  In 
the  first  place,  in  that  good  old  land  they  had  educated 
the  conscience.  The  conscience  never  lost  its  hold  upon 
the  man.  He  stood  as  firm  in  his  convictions  as  the 
rock  to  its  base.  His  religion  was  a  religion  of  the  soul, 
and  not  of  the  senses.  He  might  have  broken  the  tables 
of  stone  upon  which  the  laws  were  written;  he  never 
would  have  broken  those  laws  themselves.  He  turned 
neither  to  the  past  with  regret  nor  to  the  future  with 
apprehension.  He  was  a  man  inured  to  trials;  practised 
in  self-abnegation;  educated  in  the  severe  school  of 
adversity;  and  that  little  band  which  set  out  from  Hol- 
land to  take  up  its  career  in  the  new  world  was  well 
calculated  to  undertake  the  work  which  Providence  had 


HORACE  PORTER  337 

marked  out  for  them.  Those  men  had  had  breathed 
into  their  nostrils  at  their  very  birth  the  true  spirit  of 
liberty,  —  that  spirit  of  liberty  which  does  not  mean 
unbridled  license  of  the  individual,  but  that  spirit  of 
liberty  which  can  turn  blind  submission  into  rational 
obedience;  that  spirit  of  liberty  which  Hall  says  stifles 
the  voices  of  kings,  dissipates  the  mists  of  superstition, 
kindles  the  flames  of  art,  and  pours  happiness  into  the 
laps  of  the  people.  Those  men  started  out  boldly  upon 
the  ocean;  they  paused  not  until  they  clipped  the  fringes 
of  their  banners  in  the  waters  of  the  western  seas. 

If  we  may  judge  the  future  progress  of  this  land  by 
its  progress  in  the  past,  it  does  not  require  that  one  should 
be  endowed  with  prophetic  vision  to  predict  that  in  the 
near  future  this  young  but  giant  republic  will  dominate 
the  policy  of  the  world.  America  was  not  born  amidst 
the  mysteries  of  barbaric  ages;  and  it  is  about  the  only 
nation  which  knows  its  own  birthday.  Woven  of  the 
stoutest  fibers  of  other  lands,  nurtured  by  the  commin- 
gling of  the  best  blood  of  other  races,  America  has  now 
cast  off  the  swaddling  clothes  of  infancy,  and  stands 
forth  erect,  clothed  in  robes  of  majesty  and  power,  in 
which  the  God  who  made  her  intends  that  she  shall 
henceforth  tread  the  earth;  and  to-day  she  may  be  seen 
moving  down  the  great  highways  of  history,  teaching  by 
example;  moving  at  the  head  of  the  procession  of  the 
world's  events;  marching  in  the  van  of  civilized  and 
Christianized  liberty,  her  manifest  destiny  to  light  the 
torch  of  liberty  till  it  illumines  the  entire  pathway  of  the 
world,  and  till  human  freedom  and  human  rights  become 
the  common  heritage  of  mankind. 


338  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

AT  THREESCORE  AND  TEN 

MARK  TWAIN 

Upon  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  his  seventieth 
birthday,  at  a  dinner  given  in  New  York  city,  Mark 
Twain  spoke  as  follows: 

"The  seventieth  birthday.  It  is  the  time  of  life  when 
you  arrive  at  a  new  and  awful  dignity.  You  can  tell 
the  world  how  you  got  there.  I  have  been  anxious  to 
explain  my  own  system  this  long  time.  I  have  achieved 
my  seventy  in  the  usual  way  —  by  sticking  strictly  to  a 
scheme  of  life  which  would  kill  anybody  else.  I  will 
offer  here  as  a  sound  maxim  this:  that  we  can't  reach 
old  age  by  another  man's  road. 

"I  will  now  teach,  offering  my  way  of  life  to  whom- 
soever desires  to  commit  suicide  by  the  scheme  which 
has  enabled  me  to  beat  the  doctor  and  the  hangman 
for  seventy  years.  In  the  matter  of  diet  I  have  been 
persistently  strict  in  sticking  to  the  things  which  didn't 
agree  with  me  until  one  or  the  other  of  us  got  the  best 
of  it.  Until  lately  I  got  the  best  of  it  myself.  But  last 
spring  I  stopped  frolicking  with  mince  pie  after  mid- 
night; up  to  then  I  had  always  believed  it  wasn't  loaded. 
I  have  made  it  a  rule  never  to  smoke  more  than  one 
cigar  at  a  time.  As  an  example  to  others,  and  not  that 
I  care  for  moderation  myself,  it  has  always  been  my 
rule  not  to  smoke  when  asleep  and  never  refrain  when 
awake.  It  is  all  of  sixty  years  since  I  began  to  smoke  the 
limit.  I  have  never  bought  cigars  with  life  belts  around 
them.     I  early  found  that  these  were  too  expensive  for 


MARK  TWAIN  339 

me.  I  have  always  bought  cheap  cigars  —  reasonably 
cheap,  at  any  rate.  Sixty  years  ago  they  cost  me  four 
dollars  a  barrel,  but  my  taste  latterly  improved,  and  I 
pay  seven  dollars  now. 

"As  for  drinking,  I  have  no  rule  about  that.  When 
others  drink  I  like  to  keep  up;  otherwise  I  remain  dry 
by  habit  and  preference.  Since  I  was  seven  I  have 
seldom  taken  a  dose  of  medicine  and  have  still  seldomer 
needed  one.  But  up  to  seven  I  lived  exclusively  on 
allopathic  medicines.  Not  that  I  needed  them;  it  was 
for  economy.  My  father  and  I  took  a  drug  store  for  a 
debt,  and  it  made  cod  liver  oil  cheaper  than  the  other 
breakfast  foods.  We  had  nine  barrels,  and  it  lasted  me 
seven  years.  Then  I  was  weaned.  I  was  the  first 
Standard  Oil  trust:  I  had  it  all.  By  the  time  the  drug 
store  was  exhausted  my  health  was  established.  I  have 
never  taken  any  exercise  except  sleeping  and  resting, 
and  I  never  intend  to  take  any.  Exercise  is  loathsome, 
and  it  cannot  be  any  benefit  when  you  are  tired.  I  was 
always  tired. 

"I  have  lived  a  severely  moral  life.  But  it  would  be 
a  mistake  for  other  people  to  try  that.  Morals  are  like 
an  acquirement  —  like  music  —  no  man  is  born  with 
them.  I  wasn't  myself;  I  started  poor.  I  hadn't  a 
single  moral.  I  can  remember  the  first  one  I  ever  got. 
It  was  an  old  second-hand  moral,  all  out  of  repair,  and 
didn't  fit  anyway.  But  if  you  are  careful  with  a  thing 
and  keep  it  in  a  dry  place  and  disinfect  it  now  and  then 
and  give  it  a  fresh  coat  of  whitewash  once  in  a  while, 
you  will  be  surprised  to  see  how  well  it  will  last  and  how 
long  it  will  keep  sweet  and  inoffensive. 

"Threescore  and  ten!     It  is  the  Scriptural  statute  of 


340  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

limitations.  After  that  you  owe  no  active  duties;  for 
you  the  strenuous  life  is  over.  You  are  a  time-expired 
man,  to  use  Kipling's  phrase.  The  previous  engagement 
plea — which  in  forty  years  has  cost  you  so  many 
twinges — you  can  lay  aside  forever;  on  this  side  of  the 
grave  you  will  never  need  it  again.  If  you  shrink  at 
thought  of  night  and  winter  and  the  late  home-coming 
from  the  banquet,  you  need  only  reply,  'Your  invita- 
tion honors  me  and  pleases  me,  because  you  still  keep 
me  in  your  remembrance,  but  I  am  seventy  and  would 
nestle  in  the  chimney-corner  and  smoke  my  pipe  and 
read  my  books  and  take  my  rest,  wishing  you  well  in  all 
affection  and  that,  when  you  in  your  turn  shall  arrive  at 
Pier  70,  you  may  step  aboard  your  waiting  ship  with  a 
reconciled  spirit  and  lay  your  course  toward  the  sinking 
sun  with  a  contented  heart.'" 


TEXAS  AND  HER  FOUNDERS 

CHAMP  CLARK 

Congressman  from  Missouri 

(Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives February  25,  1905.) 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  shall  attempt  no  panegyric  upon 
Texas  or  upon  Texans.  They  need  none.  Even  if  they 
did,  her  representatives  here  are  amply  qualified  and 
always  willing  to  sound  her  praises,  which  no  tongue  or 
pen  can  exhaust.  The  intense  state  pride  which  was 
erstwhile  characteristic  in  an  extraordinary  degree  of  Vir- 


CHAMP  CLARK  341 

ginians,  South  Carolinians,  and  Massachusetts  people  is 
eclipsed  by  that  of  the  citizens  of  the  Lone  Star  State. 
They  are  fully  justified  in  that  laudable  feeling,  for  state 
pride  is  patriotism.  Here,  is  a  fine  mot  \&  Henry  Ward 
Beecher:  "When  I  see  a  man  who  has  nothing  good  to 
say  of  the  place  he  came  from,  I  want  to  know  what 
mean  thing  he  did  there."  Most  assuredly  the  great 
preacher  would  have  had  no  occasion  to  complain  of  a 
Texan  on  that  score,  for  he  is  as  thoroughly  enamored 
of  his  state  as  is  any  youth  of  his  sweetheart  or  any  man 
of  his  wife.  In  his  eyes  she  is  perfection  itself.  His 
passion  for  her  approximates  idolatry.  And  who  shall 
blame  him  for  his  towering  pride  in  and  his  undying 
affection  for  that  mammoth  commonwealth?  With  a 
most  glorious  past,  with  a  most  prosperous  present, 
Texas  faces  a  future  to  which  none  but  the  greatest  of 
the  major  prophets  and  the  sublimest  of  the  epic  poets 
could  do  justice.  It  makes  even  a  hard-headed,  unimag- 
inative outside  admirer  and  friend  dizzy  to  contemplate 
by  the  eye  of  faith  the  Texas  that  is  to  be.  So  I  reluc- 
tantly leave  Texas  to  the  Texans  on  this  occasion,  though 
no  orator  could  desire  a  nobler  theme. 

The  law  gives  to  each  state  the  right  to  erect  in  Statuary 
Hall  the  statues  of  two,  and  only  two,  of  her  distinguished 
citizens;  Texas  to-day  presents  the  statue  of  Stephen 
Fuller  Austin,  to  stand  forever  as  one  of  her  chosen 
representatives  in  that  group  of  renowned  historic  char- 
acters. As  his  companion  in  perpetual  glory  she  dedi- 
cates General  Sam  Houston,  statesman,  soldier,  orator, 
"the  liberator  of  Texas,"  than  whom  even  good  Sir 
Walter  himself  never  drew  a  more*  fascinating,  a  more 
romantic,  or  a  braver  figure. 


342  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

There  is  no  chapter  in  the  annals  of  mankind  more 
thrilling  than  the  story  of  how  Texans  won  their  freedom. 
Dull  must  be  the  brain,  cold  must  be  the  heart,  of  him 
who  can  think  of  the  heroism  at  Goliad,  at  the  Alamo, 
and  at  San  Jacinto,  and  not  rejoice  at  being  kindred  in 
blood,  in  faith,  in  aspiration,  and  in  the  sacred  love  of 
liberty  to  the  unconquerable  men  who  fought  and  bled 
and  died  upon  those  bloody  fields.  From  the  ground 
which  they  immortalized  and  glorified  by  their  sufferings 
and  their  valor  Texas  sprang  full  armed,  as  Minerva 
from  the  brain  of  Jove.  So  long  as  courage  and  fortitude 
are  prized  among  men,  so  long  as  the  hope  of  freedom 
endures,  the  names  of  Houston,  Austin,  Bowie,  Travis, 
Burleson,  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar,  Sidney  Sherman,  Deaf 
Smith,  and  Davy  Crockett  will  be  cherished  as  house- 
hold words. 

I  love  to  think  of  the  bold,  adventurous  men  who 
blazed  the  pathway  of  civilization  across  the  continent 
to  the  shores  of  the  peaceful  ocean.  They,  and  not  the 
politicians  of  this  era,  made  this  a  world  power.  We 
owe  them  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  we  can  never  repay 
except  by  being  model  citizens.  They  had  none  of  the 
ordinary  incentives  to  high  endeavor.  They  acted  their 
parts  in  a  rude  age,  upon  an  obscure  stage,  far  from  the 
teeming  centers  of  population  and  publicity,  with  no 
Boswell  to  follow  at  their  heels  to  record  their  words, 
with  no  newspaper  correspondents  to  blazon  their  deeds. 
No  trumpet  of  fame  sounded  in  their  ears,  cheering  them 
on  in  their  onerous,  hazardous,  self-appointed  task;  but 
they  wrought  nobly  for  their  country  and  their  kind. 


CHARLES  A.  CULBERSON  343 


THE  BATTLE-SHIP  "TEXAS" 

CHARLES  A.   CULBERSON 
Senior  United  States  Senator  from  Texas 

(A  speech  made  in  the  presentation  of  a  silver  service,  secured 
through  voluntary  subscriptions  by  the  people  of  Texas,  to  the 
battle-ship  Texas,  February  21,  1897.) 

In  every  period  of  historic  time  sailors  have  won 
imperishable  renown,  elevated  the  standard  of  patriotism, 
and  helped  to  mark  the  boundaries  of  empires.  At 
Salamis,  nearly  five  centuries  before  the  Christian  era, 
Grecian  civilization  moved  onward  through  the  most 
important  naval  battle  of  ancient  times.  Actium  gave 
to  Octavius  the  mastery  of  the  world,  and  that  epoch 
became  immortal  with  the  birth  of  the  Roman  empire. 
From  then  through  successive  centuries  naval  engage- 
ments are  woven  deeply  into  the  annals  of  nations  and 
of  civilization,  and  since  the  middle  ages  no  country  has 
exerted  a  more  powerful  influence  upon  the  human  race 
than  England,  whose  naval  history  is  a  continuous  path 
of  glory.  Nelson,  with  the  battle-cry  of  "Victory  or 
Westminster  Abbey!"  was  a  greater  genius  than  Marl- 
borough or  Wellington,  and  the  victories  of  the  Nile  and 
Trafalgar  in  commanding  consequences  take  rank  with 
Blenheim  and  Waterloo.  In  the  American  Revolution 
and  the  War  of  181 2,  none  surpassed  the  sailors  in  intre- 
pidity and  devotion  to  liberty  in  battles  where  Jones, 
Decatur,  and  Perry  wrought  undying  fame.  Our  great 
Civil  War,  largely  confined  to  land  operations  and 
surpassingly  rich  in  the  valor  of   its  soldiery,  yet  gave 


344  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

opportunity  for  gallant  and  conspicuous  naval  service. 
Farragut  added  unfading  luster  to  American  arms,  and 
Raphael  Semmes  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  genius 
and  heroism  shall  inspire  mankind.  Mindful  of  this 
mighty  influence  upon  history,  we  are  proud  that  the 
name  of  Texas  is  linked  with  the  naval  power  of  the 
republic.  This  power  is  symbolic  of  the  strength  and 
the  majesty  of  the  Government,  and  is  one  of  those  great 
forces  that  in  times  of  national  peril  would  preserve 
liberty  and  perpetuate  the  Union.  Loving  peace  with 
its  multiplied  blessings,  yet  prepared  for  war,  it  would 
proclaim  the  inviolability  of  American  citizenship  on 
every  sea,  constitute  the  flag  its  safeguard,  and  resist 
every  character  of  foreign  aggression  as  the  highest 
assurance  that  republican  institutions  shall  not  perish 
from   the   earth. 

We  commit  to  you  and  American  sailors  the  name 
of  Texas,  a  name  yet  unsullied  and  stainless,  a  name 
unspeakably  precious  to  us,  a  name  which  passed  almost 
in  eclipse  at  San  Antonio  and  Goliad,  emerged  from 
gloom  and  darkness  at  Concepcion,  shone  with  effulgence 
at  San  Jacinto,  and  now  lights  with  steady  splendor  the 
destiny  of  a  great  people. 


JOSEPH  W.  BAILEY  345 


TEXAS  —  UNDIVIDED  AND  INDIVISIBLE 

JOSEPH  W.   BAILEY 

United  States  Senator  from  Texas 

(From  a  speech  delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate,  January, 
1906.) 

Throughout  this  discussion  we  have  heard  many  and 
varied  comments  upon  the  magnitude  of  Texas.  Some 
senators  have  expressed  a  friendly  solicitude  that  we 
would  some  day  avail  ourselves  of  the  privilege  accorded 
us  by  the  resolutions  under  which  we  entered  the  Union, 
and  divide  our  state  into  five  states. 

Mr.  President,  if  Texas  had  contained  a  population  in 
1845  sufficient  to  have  justified  her  admission  as  five 
states,  it  is  my  opinion  that  she  would  have  been  so 
admitted.  I  will  even  go  further  than  that;  I  will  say 
that  if  Texas  were  now  five  states,  there  would  not  be 
five  men  in  either  state  who  would  seriously  propose 
the  consolidation  into  one.  But,  sir,  Texas  is  not  divided 
now,  and  under  the  providence  of  God  she  will  not  be 
divided  until  the  end  of  time.  Her  position  is  excep- 
tional, and  excites  in  the  minds  of  all  her  citizens  a  just 
and  natural  pride.  She  is  now  the  greatest  of  all  the 
states  in  area,  and  certain  to  become  the  greatest  of  all 
in  population,  wealth,  and  influence.  With  such  a 
primacy  assured  her,  she  could  not  be  expected  to  sur- 
render it,  even  to  obtain  increased  representation  in  this 
body. 

But,  Mr.  President,  while  from  her  proud  eminence 
to-day  Texas  looks  upon  a  future  as  bright  with  promise 


346  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

as  ever  beckoned  a  people  to  follow  where  fate  and  for- 
tune lead,  it  is  not  so  much  the  promise  of  the  future  as 
it  is  the  memory  of  the  glorious  past  which  appeals  to 
her  against  division.  She  could  partition  her  fertile 
valleys  and  broad  prairies,  she  could  apportion  her  thriv- 
ing towns  and  growing  cities,  she  could  distribute  her 
splendid  population  and  wonderful  resources,  but  she 
could  not  divide  the  fadeless  glory  of  those  days  that 
are  past  and  gone.  To  which  of  her  daughters,  sir, 
could  she  assign,  without  irreparable  injustice  to  all  the 
others,  the  priceless  inheritance  of  the  Alamo,  Goliad, 
and  San  Jacinto?  To  which  could  she  bequeath  the 
name  of  Houston,  Austin,  Fannin,  Bowie,  and  Crockett? 
Sir,  the  fame  of  these  men,  and  their  less  illustrious  but 
not  less  worthy  comrades,  cannot  be  severed.  Their 
names  are  written  upon  the  tablets  of  her  grateful  memory, 
so  that  all  time  shall  not  efface  them.  The  story  of  their 
mighty  deeds,  which  rescued  Texas  from  the  condition 
of  a  despised  and  oppressed  Mexican  province  and  made 
her  a  free  and  independent  republic,  still  rouses  the 
blood  of  her  men  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  we 
would  not  forfeit  the  right  to  repeat  it  to  our  children 
for  many  additional  seats  in  this  august  assembly. 

The  world  has  never  seen  a  sublimer  courage  or  a 
more  unselfish  patriotism  than  that  which  illuminates 
almost  every  page  in  the  early  history  of  Texas.  Students 
may  know  more  about  other  battle-fields,  but  none  is 
consecrated  with  the  blood  of  braver  men  than  those 
who  fell  at  Goliad.  Historians  may  not  record  it  as  one 
of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world,  but  the  victory  of 
the  Texans  at  San  Jacinto  is  destined  to  exert  a  greater 
influence  upon  the  happiness  of  the  human  race  than  all 


JAMES  B.  CLARK  347 

the  conflicts  that  established  or  subverted  the  petty 
kingdoms  of  the  ancient  world.  Poets  have  not  yet 
immortalized  it  with  their  enduring  verse,  but  the  Alamo 
is  more  resplendent  with  her  heroic  sacrifice  than  was 
Thermopylae  itself,  because  while  "Thermopylae  had  its 
messenger  of  defeat,  the  Alamo  had  none." 

Mr.  President,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  borrow  Web- 
ster's well-known  apostrophe  to  Liberty  and  Union,  I 
would  say  of  Texas:  She  is  one  and  inseparable,  now 
and  forever. 


PATRIOTISM  AND  THE  SOUTH 

JAMES   B.   CLARK 
Late  Proctor  of  the  University  of  Texas 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  Fourth  of  July  address,  delivered  at 
Pace's  Spring,  Texas,  1877.) 

I  hold  that  patriotism  is  but  the  manifestation  of  a 
broad  and  generous  selfishness.  It  begins  at  the  hearth- 
stone, thence  it  extends  to  our  neighbor  whom  we  know 
—  widens  through  the  country  —  embraces  the  state  — 
and  pauses  not  till  the  far-circling  wave  of  affection  touches 
the  uttermost  limits  of  that  land  which  we  call  "our 
country."  We  love  it  because  it  is  our  fatherland,  as 
the  Germans  beautifully  and  fitly  express  it;  because  we 
make  its  laws  and  elect  its  rulers;  because  the  honored 
dust  of  our  forefathers  lies  beneath  its  sod;  because  it  is 
ours,  to  have  and  to  hold  unto  us  and  our  heirs  forever! 

After  a  long  and  weary  voyage,  his   good  ship  now 


348  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

assailed  by  the  tempest  and  anon  becalmed  in  pestilential 
seas,  the  sailor  casts  anchor  in  the  safe  and  placid  waters 
of  his  chosen  harbor.  As  he  gazes  upon  broken  bulwark, 
tattered  sail,  and  severed  mast,  he  thanks  God  that  the 
storm  has  rolled  away,  that  peaceful  breezes  blow,  and 
cloudless  skies  once  more  bend  above  him.  Nor  does 
he  mar  the  present  hour  with  vain  regrets  or  hopeless 
repinings.  To-day  is  his,  the  future  lies  before,  and  with 
manly  courage  he  turns  to  meet  the  duties  which  con- 
front him  then  and  there. 

Disorganized  and  distorted  by  a  tremendous  conflict, 
the  fair  form  of  republican  government  was  for  a  time 
but  the  wreck  of  its  nobler  self.  But  to-day  the  chains 
are  stricken  from  long-fettered  limbs,  the  invincible  prin- 
ciples of  free  government  have  triumphed  at  last,  and  the 
Blue  and  the  Gray  alike  are  ready  to  do  honor  to  that 
flag  upon  whose  folds  now  shines  with  equal  luster  every 
star  in  the  constellation  of  the  states.  A  new  era  dawns 
before  us.  Old  issues  are  dead  and  buried  out  of  sight, 
and  none  are  strong  enough,  even  if  any  were  mad  enough, 
to  revive  them.  We  will  build  monuments,  if  you  please, 
above  them  to  hold  the  record  of  what  part  they  once 
played  in  the  drama  of  our  national  life.  Ever  and  anon 
memory  may  revisit  the  scene,  scattering  flowers  over 
lonely  mounds  or  twining  garlands  around  the  monu- 
mental shaft;  yet  it  is  the  present  with  its  duties  which 
we  must  confront.  There  is  work  enough  for  brain  and 
heart.  We  stand  but  upon  the  threshold  of  vast  pos- 
sibilities in  science,  art,  education,  agriculture,  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  physical  development.  Watch  the 
grand  procession  of  the  states.  With  steady  tramp  and 
equal  step  it  moves.    Only  one  hundred  and  one  years 


GEORGE  PIERCE  GARRISON  349 

old,  yet  abreast  with  nations  that  were  hoary  with  age 
before  the  sturdy  colonist  fired  that  first  shot  "heard 
round  the  world."  Forward,  then,  in  the  great  work. 
As  Texans,  we  should  be  no  laggards  in  the  race.  We 
build  for  the  future;  and,  however  humble  the  individual 
part,  it  is  full  of  honor  and  proud  results.  And  so, 
assembled  here  beneath  the  green  arches  of  this  forest 
cathedral  whose  choir  is  the  song  of  birds,  the  murmur 
of  the  breeze,  and  the  roar  of  the  storm,  "heart  within, 
and  God  o'erhead,"  let  us  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  the 
preservation  of  those  principles  and  the  use  of  those 
agencies  through  which  alone  we  may  remain  a  free  and 
happy  people. 


TRIBUTE  TO  JAMES  B.   CLARK 

GEORGE  PIERCE   GARRISON 
Late  Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Texas 

(Condensed  from  an  address  delivered  at  the  University  of  Texas 
April  12,  1909.) 

No  other  man  has  ever  so  completely  won  the  hearts 
of  the  faculty  and  students  of  this  University,  nor  is  it 
likely  that  any  other  will  ever  reach  the  same  preemi- 
nence in  their  affectionate  regard  as  James  B.  Clark. 

Judge  Clark  was  a  splendid  example  of  the  old  type 
of  the  Southern  gentleman.  With  him,  hospitality, 
courtliness,  and  integrity  were  so  natural  that  they 
seemed  to  be  the  result  of  instinct  rather  than  of  training. 


350  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

A  graduate  of  Harvard,  alert-minded,  traveled,  and 
widely  read,  he  acquired  an  unusual  degree  of  culture, 
and  his  power  to  charm  by  conversation  was  almost 
without  limit.  Following  the  lead  of  his  convictions,  he 
joined  the  Confederate  army  in  1861,  and  bore  himself 
throughout  the  Civil  War  like  a  man  and  a  soldier;  but, 
while  he  cherished  the  memories  of  the  great  conflict, 
he  always  thought  of  it  as  ended  at  Appomattox.  He 
had  learned  too  much  of  the  men  of  the  North  to  suppose 
that  they  were  by  nature  either  better  or  worse  than 
others;  and  perhaps  the  most  memorable  and  enjoyable 
occasion  of  his  later  years  was  that  of  the  reunion  of 
his  class  at  Harvard,  in  1905,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  its  graduation. 

One  secret  of  Judge  Clark's  hold  on  the  students  was 
that  they  believed  he  always  understood  them.  He 
passed  threescore  and  ten,  and  the  external  marks  of 
age  showed  themselves  upon  him  in  many  ways;  but  he 
never  grew  old  enough  to  lose  the  students'  point  of 
view.  Courageous  yet  modest,  tender  yet  manly,  sympa- 
thetic yet  unobtrusive,  plain-spoken  yet  never  offensive, 
he  knew  how  to  reach  every  heart,  to  serve  all,  and  to 
bring  some  good  into  every  life  whose  lines  crossed  those 
of  his  own.  How  many  a  student  there  was  in  whom 
he  quickened  the  dead  sense  of  duty  and  of  aspiration, 
how  many  he  stimulated  to  stronger  efforts  with  nobler 
aims,  it  would  be  impossible  to  tell. 

Though  teaching  was  not  included  by  name  among  his 
duties,  Judge  Clark  was  one  of  the  foremost  teachers 
that  have  ever  held  a  place  in  this  University.  The 
great  lesson  he  taught  to  faculty  and  students  alike, 
and  to  all  who  had  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear,  was  how 


GEORGE  PIERCE  GARRISON  351 

to  live.  Realizing  fully  the  seriousness  of  life,  and  thor- 
oughly awake  to  all  its  duties  and  responsibilities,  he  still 
never  allowed  it  to  become  a  burden.  With  no  vain 
regrets  for  the  mistake  or  the  misfortune  of  yesterday, 
and  no  paralyzing  forecast  of  evil  for  to-morrow,  by 
doing  faithfully  the  work  of  the  moment,  he  lived  in 
constant  preparation  for  the  best  or  the  worst  that  fate 
might  bring. 

There  was  never  a  happier  choice  than  that  which 
brought  Judge  Clark  to  the  service  of  the  University. 
This,  however,  must  be  understood  in  a  larger  sense  than 
could  have  been  fully  appreciated  at  the  time  of  his 
election.  Some  other  person  might  perhaps  have  dis- 
charged as  well,  or  even  better,  the  various  duties  of 
detailed  routine  which  were  assigned  to  him;  but  that 
is  a  matter  of  relatively  small  consequence.  It  is  suffi- 
cient to  say  that  he  attended  to  them  conscientiously 
and  satisfactorily.  The  essential  thing  is  that  he  entered, 
as  probably  no  one  else  could  have  done,  into  the  life 
of  the  University  as  an  uplifting  force  at  a  time  when  it 
needed  ideals  and  inspiration  more  than  perfect  clerical 
machinery.  It  is  by  this  that  we  shall  remember  him, 
and  for  this  that  the  hearts  of  ten  thousand  men  and 
women  who  are  the  better  because  he  was  here  have 
been  drawn  to  him  in  loving  gratitude. 

Fitly  he  lived  and  fitly  did  he  die.  Here  in  the  Uni- 
versity auditorium,  where  many  an  annually  recurring 
commencement  had  left  him  dear  and  tender  memories, 
and  where  the  marble  tablets  on  the  wall  speak  mutely 
of  his  beloved  associates  gone  before,  he  fell  and  breathed 
his  last.  Even  the  King  of  Shadows  loved  him,  and 
laid  him  painlessly  to  rest.    Thank  God  for  his  life  and 


352  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

for  the  gracious  gentleness  of  his  death.  Further  we 
are  not  troubled;  for  we  believe  that,  having  crossed  the 
bar,  he  sees  the  Pilot  "face  to  face." 


THE  UNIVERSITY  — A  SACRED  TRUST 

THOMAS  ULVAN  TAYLOR 
Professor  of  Civil  Engineering  in  the  University  of  Texas 

(From  an  address  delivered  at  the  University  of  Texas  March  2, 
1910.) 

To-day  we  celebrate  the  independence  of  Texas,  but 
let  us  not  forget  the  fact  that  the  day  of  the  independence 
of  her  University  is  yet  to  be  celebrated.  It  has  had 
its  trials  in  the  past,  and  will  have  them  in  the  future. 
But  we  must  remember  that  for  three-fourths  of  a  cen- 
tury the  University  in  its  broad  sense  has  triumphed 
over  many  obstacles;  that  it  survived  through  times  that 
changed  principalities  and  powers,  and  yet  it  lived  to 
celebrate  one  year  ago  its  silver  union  to  the  hearts  of 
the  people.  It  triumphed  over  those  that  would  have 
taken  the  young  child's  life,  and  to-day  its  feet  are  planted 
solidly  on  its  native  soil.  If  it  falls  now,  it  will  not  fall 
by  the  dart  hurled  by  the  hand  of  its  would-be  assassin, 
but  on  account  of  the  dart  withheld  from  its  defense  by 
the  hands  of  its  friends.  Waterloo  was  lost  by  the  non- 
arrival  of  a  friend.  Remember  that  the  blood  of  Milam 
and  of  that  host  of  deathless  dead  was  shed  that  you  might 
live  in  a  better  state  and  under  a  more  peaceful  sky. 
And  I  would  have  the  nine  thousand  ex-students  of  the 
University  remember  that  they,  too,  belong  to  the  army 


THOMAS  ULVAN  TAYLOR  353 

of  the  loyal.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  loyal  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  the  orange  and  white  to  render  filial  service,  not 
with  the  blind  fanaticism  of  the  follower  of  a  fetish,  but 
with  an  enlightened  and  firm  and  absolute  conviction  that 
the  University  is  one  of  the  greatest  agents  of  good  that 
the  state  maintains. 

It  was  founded  to  help  promote,  foster,  and  perfect 
the  ideal  conditions  of  government  and  life  —  that  of 
pure  democracy.  It  would  seem  strange  if  the  very 
institution  for  which  men  gave  up  so  much  in  the  belief 
that  it  would  be  influential  in  establishing  these  condi- 
tions should  fail  in  its  exalted  mission.  Fellow  comrades 
of  the  rank  and  file,  let  us  examine  ourselves  to-day  and 
ask  if  we  are  keeping  the  faith  of  the  fathers.  Remember 
that  you  are  the  children  of  the  state,  that  the  fathers 
left  you  a  legacy  and  a  heritage  that  you  might  be  a 
better  man  and  a  better  woman  and  that  we  might  have 
a  better  country.  It  was  to  no  order  of  nobility  to 
which  you  succeeded,  but  to  a  democracy  of  the  people 
inside  and  outside  of  the  University.  I  trust  that  the 
day  will  never  come  when  a  man  in  this  University  does 
not  take  his  rank  according  to  his  individual  merit  and 
deserts.  This  nation  stands  among  the  nations  of  the 
world  as  a  beacon  light  of  democracy  set  on  a  hill,  and 
the  University  of  its  largest  state  should  have  a  democ- 
racy so  pure  that  snobbery  cannot  lift  its  polluting  head. 
If  the  University  makes  its  students  feel  that  they  are 
superior  to  their  fellows;  if  it  makes  them  imagine  that 
they  are  anointed  to  a  holier  sphere  than  the  less  for- 
tunate, then  God  save  the  commonwealth  and  God  save 
the  University,  for  the  faith  of  the  fathers  has  been 
betrayed. 


354  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

"Our  fathers'  faith 
May  you  keep  till  death; 
Their  fame  in  its  cloudless  splendor, 
As  men  who  stand  for  their  fatherland, 
And  die  —  but  never  surrender." 

The  fathers  left  you  a  birthright  —  sell  it  not  for  a 
mess  of  pottage.  Train  yourselves  to  be  the  citizens  of 
the  state,  and  to  render  her  your  filial  service  and  ever 
be  ready  to  respond  to  the  call  of  your  alma  mater.  The 
call  may  come,  and  when  it  does  every  loyal  son  and 
daughter  should  rush  to  the  ranks.  Israel  lay  prostrate 
at  the  foot  of  the  conqueror  —  her  institutions  and  laws 
despised,  and  her  flag  trailing  in  the  dust.  The  angel  of 
the  Lord  took  a  live  coal  of  fire  from  the  altar  itself, 
flew  to  the  abode  of  the  great  prophet,  and  applying  it 
to  his  lips,  called  him  to  the  leadership  of  his  country. 
The  prophet,  seeing  his  country  bleeding  and  sore,  replied, 
"Here  am  I,  Lord,  send  me."  If  the  cause  of  your 
alma  mater  or  your  state  ever  becomes  desperate,  may 
the  spirits  of  Lamar  and  Houston,  of  Roberts  and  Gould, 
of  Leslie  Waggener  and  James  B.  Clark  act  as  a  live 
coal  of  fire  upon  your  lips,  and  may  your  reply  be  that 
of  the  prophet,  "Here  am  I,  send  me." 


INVASION  OF  THE  NORTH  BY  THE  SOUTH 

JACOB  M.  DICKINSON 
Secretary  of  War 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  York 
Southern  Society,  New  York  city,  December  8,  1909.) 

President  Taft  in   a  recent  speech  at   Columbus, 
Mississippi,  said,  "In  order  to  understand  the  Southern 


JACOB  M.  DICKINSON  355 

people,  especially  with  respect  to  issues  of  the  war  and 
what  grew  out  of  it,  in  order  to  understand  their  present 
position,  one  must  know  that  your  hearts  and  emotions 
are  broad  enough  to  entertain  entire  loyalty  to  the  issues  of 
the  past,  which  you  fought  so  nobly  to  sustain,  and  entire 
loyalty  to  our  present  Government,  for  which  you  would 
be  willing  to  lay  down  your  life  if  occasion  required  it." 

Therefore  I  trust  that  I  shall  cause  no  disappointment 
if  I  do  not  make  the  eagle  scream  in  ecstasy  by  the  fervor 
of  my  patriotic  utterances  as  a  Southerner,  and  if  I  seem 
to  decline  upon  a  lower  plane  in  asking  your  attention 
to  some  thoughts  suggested  by  the  invasion  of  the  North 
by  the  South.  Do  not  take  alarm  and  suppose  that  I 
am  going  to  fight  over  the  campaigns  of  Lee.  I  have 
in  mind  an  invasion  entirely  peaceable,  and  conquests 
that  are  civic. 

Hard  upon  the  reestablishment  of  peace  following  the 
Civil  War,  began  the  invasion  of  the  North  by  Southern- 
ers. These  men  had  no  endowments  but  ability,  hope, 
courage,  the  discipline  of  the  beneficent  school  of  poverty, 
and  the  high  ideals  of  manly  bearing  and  personal  honor 
that  were  their  birthright.  They  had  been  schooled  in 
misfortune,  but  were  untrained  in  humility.  This  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  joint  debate  between  two  negro 
politicians,  one  a  Republican  and  the  other  —  as  rare  as 
a  black  swan — a  Democrat.  The  Republican  champion 
excoriated  the  Southern  Democrats  for  their  aggressions 
upon  the  Republican  preserves  of  political  domina- 
tion, and  denounced  them  as  arrogant  rebels.  The 
Democratic  orator  reproached  him  for  his  revengeful 
spirit  and  said  that  he  might  have  learned  a  lesson  in 
forgiveness  from  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son  who  had 


356  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

left  his  father's  house  and  "  was  ted  his  substance  in  riotous 
living."  His  father  upon  his  return  did  not  reproach  him, 
but  killed  in  his  honor  "the  fatted  calf."  The  other 
retorted,  "Yes,  fellow  citizens,  but  how  did  that  prodigal 
act  ?  He  was  ashamed  and  stood  afar  off  and  had  to  be 
persuaded;  but  these  Southern  fellows  walk  right  in  and 
say,  'Whar  is  that  veal?'" 

However  they  went  about  it,  the  men  of  the  South 
have  been  plenteously  supplied  in  the  North  with  veal 
and  all  other  good  things,  and  this  would  have  been 
impossible  but  for  the  generous  sympathy,  help,  and  con- 
fidence extended  to  them  by  the  people  with  whom  they 
had  cast  their  fortunes. 

It  is  generally  accepted  that  the  Civil  War  was  a  con- 
test between  people  of  Northern  blood  on  the  one  side 
and  those  of  Southern  blood  on  the  other.  This  is  a 
great  error.  We  are  slow  to  look  beyond  generalities 
to  the  essential  truth.  All  now  with  tardy  justice  declare 
that  Hancock  was  right  when  he  said  the  tariff  was  a 
local  question.  The  Civil  War  was  a  war  between  the 
states,  but  as  to  the  participants,  it  was  mainly  a  local 
question.  Senator  Daniel  summed  up  the  case  of  most 
of  them  when  he  said,  "I  knew  that  my  people  were 
in  a  row  and  I  went  in  to  help  them."  There  were 
seventeen  brigadier-generals,  four  major-generals,  and  one 
lieutenant-general  in  the  Southern  army  who  were  born 
in  Northern  states.  Of  these,  seven  were  born  in  the 
state  of  New  York.  Hotchkiss,  the  engineer  who  made 
the  battle-sketches  for  Stonewall  Jackson,  was  a  New 
Englander.  Eighty  of  the  graduates  of  West  Point  who 
entered  the  Confederate  army  were  born  in  non-seceding 
states. 


JACOB  M.  DICKINSON  357 

But  there  was  reciprocity  on  our  part.  Kentucky 
brought  forth  the  central  figure  of  the  epoch,  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Virginia  gave  birth  to  Thomas,  the  Rock  of 
Chickamauga,  and  Tennessee  produced  Farragut,  the 
greatest  of  the  admirals.  Early  in  the  war  the  com- 
manding general  of  the  Northern  army  was  a  Virginian 
and  the  ranking  officer  of  the  Confederate  army  was  a 
New  Yorker. 

Americans  have  a  common  and  equal  heritage.  The 
various  sections  can  best  show  forth  their  worth  and 
sustain  a  patent  to  superior  citizenship,  not  by  vauntings 
nor  by  reproaches  as  to  the  past,  but  by  excelling  in 
generous  rivalry  in  serving  our  country,  illustrating  the 
highest  qualities  of  patriotism  and  striving  to  secure 
and  perpetuate  personal  freedom  —  not  the  freedom  of 
license  —  but  freedom  of  thought,  opinion,  and  action, 
regulated  by  general  law;  maintain  "justice,  the  per- 
fected law  of  truth,  through  courts  with  impartial  judges 
and  juries  open  to  all  alike,  where  weakness  and  poverty 
are  as  potent  as  power  and  wealth,"  and  keeping  our 
republic  in  a  career  that  will  conserve  for  the  longest 
time  the  rich  blessings  which  it  is  now  showering  upon 
humanity. 


3S8  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THE  "SOLID   SOUTH" 

CHARLES  W.   DABNEY 
President  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati 

(Extract  from  an  address  at  the  commencement  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama,  and  repeated  by  request  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Central  University  of  Kentucky,  1909.) 

Is  it  not  clear  that  the  times  are  ripe  for  a  new  political 
alignment  in  the  South  ?  Certainly  the  hour  has  struck 
for  the  independent  man,  the  man  who  will  think,  to 
decide  and  act  for  himself.  To  such  independent  think- 
ing and  acting,  not  to  the  support  of  any  political  party, 
I  call  these  young  men.  From  such  as  these  and  their 
fellows  all  over  the  South  will  again  arise  leaders,  who 
will  take  over  into  the  national  consciousness  the  best 
virtues,  if  not  all  the  doctrines,  of  the  old  South.  For  it 
is  not  creeds,  but  character,  not  doctrines,  but  deeds 
that  count  in  this  world.  And  first  of  all  those  virtues 
is  the  virtue  of  loyalty. 

What,  then,  is  the  mission  of  the  independent  voter  in 
the  South  to-day?  Shall  he,  for  example,  use  his  vote 
to  break  the  "Solid  South"?  He  will  not  feel  justified 
in  doing  this  merely  to  put  an  end  to  political  isolation, 
stagnation,  and  intolerance,  serious  though  these  evils 
be.  He  might  not  see  his  way  clear  to  do  so  merely  to 
permit  freer  political  action,  give  a  chance  for  a  second 
political  party,  and  so  secure  more  progressive  state 
legislation,  and  prevent  corruption,  important  as  all 
these  things  are.  He  would  scarcely  be  willing  to  do  so, 
merely  to  get  into  the  national  game  and  give  our  young 


CHARLES  W.  DABNEY  359 

men  a  vent  for  their  political  energy,  and  a  share  in  the 
nation's  thought  and  progress,  desirable  as  this  un- 
doubtedly is.  I  do  not  think  the  sincere  patriot  would 
be  satisfied  with  any  one,  or  perhaps  all,  of  these  reasons. 
The  "Solid  South"  stood  for  principles  far  more  important, 
much  deeper  than  the  considerations  here  named.  The 
earnest  man,  not  an  opportunist,  will  want  to  see  ulti- 
mate ends  of  more  vital  importance  than  these  before 
he  will  break  with  these  old  traditions.  To  all  such  I 
commend  the  historic  testimony  of  the  South  as  a  cause 
fully  worthy  of  their  devotion.  What  better  can  the 
sincere  Southerner  do  than  continue  to  help  maintain 
the  testimony  of  the  fathers  since  they  landed  on  this 
continent,  the  testimony  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  since 
the  beginning  of  its  history  —  this  testimony  for  the 
freedom  of  the  individual  to  govern  himself,  his  family, 
his  town,  and  his  state?  Forgetting  the  wild  economic 
theories  of  recent  years,  forgetting  secession  and  slavery, 
too,  let  our  young  men  never  forget  that  the  original 
"Solid  South"  stood  for  the  rights  of  the  state,  for  the 
right  of  self-government  everywhere  as  opposed  to  cen- 
tralization and  imperialism.  Just  as  our  fathers  in  the 
Revolution  were  fighting  the  battles  of  Englishmen 
everywhere,  as  all  Englishmen  cordially  acknowledge 
now,  so  our  fathers  in  the  war  between  the  states  were 
fighting  the  battle  of  state  governments  everywhere. 

Young  gentlemen  of  Alabama  and  the  South,  I  have 
sought  to  show  you  how,  through  a  long  historical  process, 
every  step  of  which  was  characterized  by  pathetic  and 
yet  glorious  loyalty  to  what  seemed  for  forty  years  a 
lost  national  cause,  your  fathers  preserved  for  us  the 
ideals  of  free  government  for  which  their  fathers,  grand- 


360  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

fathers,  and  great-grandfathers  gave  their  lives.  Few 
chapters  of  history  reveal  more  clearly  than  this  sad 
story  of  the  South  the  glorifying  discipline  of  defeat,  and 
the  divine  philosophy  which  commands  that  the  truth 
must  be  crucified  to  draw  all  men  unto  it.  Failure  to 
win  visible  success  idealized  and  glorified  this  cause  for 
your  faithful  fathers,  and  inspired  them  to  work  for  its 
realization  in  the  far-off  future.  In  the  providence  of  the 
great  God,  who  overrules  all  things  in  this  world,  you 
are  now  called  upon  to  take  up  the  task  where  your  fathers 
laid  it  down.  You  are  called  to  carry  on  the  struggle  in 
order  that  their  glorious  ideals  of  free  government  may 
be  realized,  not  merely  in  our  beloved  South,  but  in  this 
whole  nation. 


THE  BLUE  AND  THE  GRAY 

ROBERT  L.   TAYLOR 
United  States  Senator  from  Tennessee 

(Extract  from  an  address  prepared  for  delivery  at  a  banquet 
held  at  Evansville,  Indiana,  October  10,  1899,  the  occasion  being 
a  reunion  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray.  This  selection  is  taken,  by 
permission,  from  "Love  Letters  to  the  Public,"  copyrighted  by 
John  F.  Draughon.) 

A  patriot  is  a  citizen  who  loves  his  country,  whether 
he  lives  in  the  North  or  in  the  South;  therefore  every  man 
who  honorably  wore  the  blue,  and  every  man  who  honestly 
wore  the  gray,  in  that  struggle  which  tried  the  soul  of 
men,  was  a  patriot. 

The  Blue  visited  the  South  once  uninvited,  and  the 


ROBERT  L.  TAYLOR  361 

Gray  showed  them  some  of  our  Southern  mineral  resources 
in  the  shape  of  muskets  and  cannon.  The  Gray  now 
invites  the  Blue  to  come  hither  and  see  our  mountains 
of  crude  metal  which  we  are  manufacturing  into  pig  iron 
to  be  converted  into  plowshares  and  reapers  instead  of 
muskets  and  bayonets.  What  we  want  now  is  not  the 
blood  of  the  Blue,  but  their  money.  The  South  panteth 
after  their  pocketbooks  even  "as  the  hart  panteth  after 
the  water  brooks."  The  Gray  boys  once  swapped  the 
Blue  boys  tobacco  for  coffee;  they  are  now  anxious  to 
exchange  coal  and  iron  and  timber  lands  for  cash.  They 
once  built  forts;  they  now  want  factories.  They  stand 
among  the  tombstones  of  their  comrades,  true  to  their 
dead  for  what  they  were,  yet  loyal  to  the  Union  for  what 
it  is.  They  kneel  among  their  monuments  to  kiss  the 
Stars  and  Bars  in  their  devotion  to  the  glorious  past; 
they  rise  to  salute  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  to  pledge 
their  devotion  to  the  Union  through  all  the  glorious 
future.  The  hands  that  once  wielded  the  sword  and  the 
musket  have  built  a  new  civilization  on  the  ashes  of  the 
old.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  is  a  new  South; 
it  is  the  grand  old  South  rejuvenated  by  its  own  matchless 
courage  and  industry.  Where  once  the  angry  columns 
met  and  clinched  and  rolled  together  in  the  bloody  mire, 
new  cities  have  sprung  up,  like  beautiful  flowers  blossom- 
ing in  the  huge  footprints  of  war.  Where  once  curled 
the  white  smoke  of  hostile  guns  in  phantom  towers  and 
columns,  high  above  the  dead  and  dying  heroes  of  the 
Blue  and  the  Gray,  now  the  gay  cotton  fields  wave  their 
white  handkerchiefs  of  peace  in  flirtation  with  the  bashful 
fields  of  corn;  and  the  big  ripe  ears  grin  among  the  fodder 
blades  and  sigh,  "Oh  shucks!" 


362  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

My  ideal  of  a  Southern  patriot  is  the  man  who  bravely 
wore  the  gray  until  his  flag  went  down  in  tears  and  blood 
at  Appomattox,  and  then  accepted  the  decision  of  war 
in  good  faith  and  went  home  to  become  a  loyal  American 
citizen  and  to  rebuild  his  desolated  country;  my  ideal 
of  a  Northern  patriot  is  the  man  who  bravely  wore  the 
blue  until  the  struggle  was  over,  and  then  laid  aside  the 
paraphernalia  of  war  and  went  home  to  help  restore  not 
only  the  Union  of  the  states,  but  the  fraternal  relations 
of  the  sections;  my  ideal  of  American  patriotism  is  the 
reunion  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  for  the  purpose  of 
cementing  all  sections  of  our  common  country  together 
forever. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  SOUTH 

EDWIN  A.   ALDERMAN 
President  of  the  University  of  Virginia 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  Charter  Day  address  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  California,  March  23,  1906.) 

The  South  has  changed  the  emphasis  of  its  thought 
from  personality  to  social  and  industrial  progress.  It 
has  made  the  change  that  every  country  makes  that 
passes  from  the  patriarchal  to  more  complex  forms  of 
life.  Its  insistence  is  to  be  upon  community  effort,  upon 
civic  progress,  upon  general  well-being  rather  than  upon 
individualism.  It  has  entered  for  good  or  ill  upon  its 
probation  as  a  member  of  the  modern  world. 

It  is  still  conservative  and  idealistic.  It  still  believes 
in  God,  reads  Walter  Scott,  and  votes  the  Democratic 


EDWIN  A.  ALDERMAN  363 

ticket,  a  trinity  of  somewhat  unequal  virtues,  I  must 
confess;  and  it  does  this  without  fear  of  punishment — ■ 
or  hope  of  reward.  It  is  still  fortunate  in  the  raw  material 
of  its  citizenship,  whether  it  issues  out  of  old  stocks, 
sobered  and  dignified  by  endurance  and  suffering,  or  out 
of  the  ranks  of  the  plain  people  who  inherit  the  English 
consciousness.  Its  cry  is  for  men  to  help  realize  its 
highest  self  in  life  and  law  in  the  spirit  of  the  modern 
world. 

The  Southern  boy  of  this  generation  has  found  himself 
at  last  in  American  life,  and  made  himself  at  home  at  the 
moment  when  the  republic  has  most  need  of  his  tem- 
pered strength.  He  is  a  fine,  hopeful  figure,  this  Southern 
boy  whom  I  know  so  well,  of  strong,  high  political  instincts, 
facing  tardily  a  fierce  industrialism  and  a  new  democ- 
racy with  its  grandeurs  and  temptations,  his  ambitions 
and  dreams  moving  about  them  and  yet  holding  fast 
through  the  conservatism  in  his  blood  to  the  noble  con- 
cepts of  public  probity  and  scorn  of  dishonor. 

There  may  be  something  parochial,  but  there  is  also 
something  fine  and  impressive  in  the  almost  Hebraic 
feeling  of  the  people  of  the  Southern  states  that  their 
section  has  something  high  and  precious  and  distinctive 
in  manhood  and  leadership  to  contribute  to  American 
civilization.  It  cannot  be  mere  boasting,  so  runs  their 
dream,  that  it  is  the  logical  right  of  their  land  to  bring 
forth  out  of  her  travail  and  her  agony  something  fair 
and  good  of  her  own  likeness  and  pattern,  the  old  refined 
gold  which  disaster  and  defeat  could  not  tarnish,  beaten 
by  fiercer,  freer  civic  forces  into  finer  and  subtler  form. 

The  spirit  of  his  fathers,  brave  and  steadfast  men  who 
held  firm  and  did  not  compromise,  ought  to  be  in  him 


364  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

and  shall  be  in  him.  Sordidness  and  commercialism  will 
not  wholly  submerge  him  and  wear  away  his  fineness. 
He  will  love  honor  more  than  life,  and  loyalty  more  than 
gold.  A  worldly  modern,  a  clear-eyed  man  breathing 
the  breath  of  freedom,  he  will  reach  men's  hearts  and  he 
will  control  men's  wills  not  by  machinery,  but  by  the 
strength  of  integrity  and  sincerity  and  their  faith  in  his 
words.  And  so  when  the  age  of  moral  warfare  shall 
succeed  to  the  age  of  passionate  gain  getting;  when  blind 
social  forces  have  wrought  some  tangle  of  inequality  and 
injustice,  of  hatred  and  suspicion;  when  calculation  and 
combination  can  only  weave  the  web  more  fiercely;  when 
the  whole  people  in  some  hour  of  national  peril  shall 
seek  for  the  man  of  heart  and  faith,  who  will  not  falter 
nor  fail,  in  the  sweet  justice  of  God,  hither  they  shall 
turn  for  succor  as  they  once  turned  to  a  simple  Virginia 
planter  to  free  them  from  a  stupid  king  and  a  stubborn 
parliament  across  the  seas. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  — AND  AFTER 

WILLIAM  GORDON  McCABE 
Orator  and  Educator  of  Richmond,  Virginia 

(Extract  from  a  speech  on  "Puritan  and  Cavalier,"  delivered 
at  a  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society  December  22,  1899.) 

For  years  after  our  Civil  War  —  those  dreadful  years 
of  Reconstruction,  when  all  our  Southern  land,  that  for 
four  long  years  had  been  girdled  with  steel  and  fire,  still 
lay  prostrate  in  what  old  Isaiah  fitly  terms  the  "dim- 


WILLIAM  GORDON  McCABE  365 

ness  of  anguish"  —  press,  pulpit,  and  political  rostrum, 
North  and  West,  persistently  demanded  of  us  a  thing 
impossible  to  men  in  whose  veins  coursed  the  blood 
of  the  old  champions  of  freedom,  and  who  had  been 
nurtured  in  those  principles  that,  since  the  days  of  Runny- 
mede,  have  been  the  common  heritage  of  all  English- 
speaking  folk  —  that  we  must  prove  the  sincerity  of  our 
acceptance  by  confessing  the  unrighteousness  of  our  con- 
tention and  by  expressing  humble  contrition  for  our 
misdeeds. 

This  the  South  steadily  refused  to  do  with  an  unshaken 
resolution,  worthy  to  touch  a  responsive  chord  in  the 
breast  of  the  sturdiest  Puritan  ever  born  under  the  shadow 
of  Plymouth  Rock.  It  did  touch  such  a  chord  in  the 
hearts  of  some  of  your  bravest  and  best,  who  in  those 
dark  days  of  doubt  and  suspicion,  when  it  required  no 
mean  courage  to  do  so,  stood  up,  and  with  that  antique 
Puritan  fearlessness  that  has  ever  scorned  "to  sell  the 
truth  to  serve  the  hour,"  proclaimed  their  belief  that  the 
word  of  brave  men  of  their  own  blood  should  be  trusted 
fully  by  the  nation. 

The  first  plea  for  genuine  reconciliation,  the  first  expres- 
sion of  absolute  confidence  in  our  plighted  word,  came 
from  New  England;  fitly  enough,  from  Lexington,  on  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  nation, 
and  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans,  yet 
withal  as  knightly  in  his  gentle  courtesy  and  splendid 
daring  as  any  cavalier  who  ever  rode  at  the  bridle-rein 
of  Rupert  of  the  Rhine  —  Francis  Bartlett,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, who  never  forgot  that  disastrous  day  to  the 
Federal  arms  at  Port  Hudson,  when,  riding  in  at 
the  head   of  his  men  —  he   the  only   mounted  officer 


366  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

in  the  assaulting  column  —  he  distinctly  heard  the 
Confederate  officer  commanding  in  his  immediate  front, 
touched  with  generous  admiration  of  his  foeman's 
reckless  daring,  shouting  to  his  men,  "For  God's 
sake,  men,  don't  shoot  as  brave  a  chap  as  that," 
and  so  for  a  time  this  Puritan- Cavalier  rode  unharmed 
into  that  hell  of  fire. 

But  it  needed,  I  think,  the  splendid  object-lessons  given 
by  Southern  men  in  the  Spanish-American  War  to  silence 
forever  the  cavils  and  doubtings  of  many  austere  patriots 
who  for  thirty  years  and  more  had  proved  themselves 
"as  invincible  in  peace  as  they  had  been  invisible  in 
war."  Above  the  first  fierce  mutterings  of  the  coming 
storm  rose  high  and  clear,  yonder  at  Havana,  the  voice  of 
Fitzhugh  Lee,  grandson  of  "Light-Horse  Harry,"  demand- 
ing with  soldierly  directness  prompt  Spanish  recognition 
of  the  sanctity  of  American  citizenship.  Then,  when  the 
die  was  cast,  and  the  Olympia,  on  that  memorable  May 
morning,  stood  into  Manila  Bay,  on  the  bridge  close 
alongside  of  George  Dewey,  of  Vermont,  stood  "Tom" 
Brumby,  of  Georgia  (God  rest  his  noble  soul!)  —  and  so, 
when  the  American  flag  was  first  unfurled  to  the  breeze 
over  the  first  American  possession  in  the  eastern  world, 
the  son  of  an  old  Confederate  colonel  stood  at  the  hal- 
liards. Ten  days  later,  at  Cardenas,  the  first  crimson 
libation  of  the  war  was  poured  out  on  the  altar  of  Cuban 
liberty,  and  the  brave  young  blood  of  that  gallant  lad, 
Worth  Bagley,  of  the  Old  North  state,  son,  too,  of  an 
old  Confederate  soldier,  cemented  forever  the  recon- 
ciliation between  North  and  South.  And  as  in  quick 
succession  the  names  of  Hobson  and  Blue  and  "Fighting 
Joe"  Wheeler  blazed  in  official  despatches,  the  thunderous 


robert  w.  Mclaughlin  367 

shouts  of  a  reunited  people  drowned  even  the  "iron- 
throated  plaudits  of  the  guns." 

As  Marshal  Ney  said  when  he  saw  the  beardless  young 
French  conscripts  rushing  in  all  the  joyous  valor  of  their 
youth  upon  the  Russian  guns  at  Weissenf els,  "  C'est  dans 
le  sang!  C'est  dans  le  sang."  It's  in  the  blood!  It's 
in  the  blood! 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  IN  RETROSPECT 
robert  w.  Mclaughlin 

Pastor  of  the  Park  Slope  Congregational  Church,  Brooklyn,  New  York 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  sermon  on  "The  Relation  of  Grant  to 
Lincoln,"  first  delivered  on  Memorial  Sunday,  1909,  and  by  request 
repeated  in  19 10.) 

As  I  review  in  retrospect  the  days  of  Lincoln  and  Grant 
and  Lee,  two  thoughts  come  to  me.  The  first  is,  these 
battle-fields  in  the  Southland  are  the  priceless  heritage 
of  the  nation.  The  defeats  of  the  one  and  the  victories 
of  the  other  are  blended.  Lee  and  Grant  are  but  types, 
huge  and  heroic  to  be  sure,  of  a  devotion  unsurpassed  in 
the  annals  of  the  race.  Behind  them  marched  two  mil- 
lions of  the  bravest  men  that  ever  trod  the  earth.  The 
blue  and  the  gray  of  their  uniforms  have  merged  again 
into  the  red,  white,  and  blue  of  our  flag.  They  wrote 
the  epic  poems  of  the  nation.  The  breast  of  nature  was 
the  parchment.  The  young  blood  of  their  veins  was  the 
ink.  The  cold,  cruel  steel  of  battle  was  the  stylus.  And 
what  epic  poems  they  are!  I  see  Corse  on  Kenesaw 
Mountain  writing  one  as  he  signals  Sherman:  "I  am  short 


368  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

a  cheek  bone  and  one  ear,  but  I  can  whip  all  hell  yet." 
I  see  Pickett's  brigade  at  Gettysburg  write  one,  as  with 
terrible  precision  they  sweep  across  the  valley  in  that 
sultry  July  day,  only  to  be  cut  down  as  hay  is  mown  in 
the  field.  I  see  the  soldiers  on  the  banks  of  the  Rapidan 
write  one,  as  they  creep  through  the  tangled  underbrush 
to  certain  death  in  the  early  morning,  and,  waiting  for 
the  battle  to  begin,  pin  bits  of  paper  on  their  blouses 
with  their  names  written  thereon.  I  see  the  beaten  but 
defiant  "  Johnnies"  at  Franklin  write  one,  as,  being  called 
upon  to  surrender,  they  shout  back,  "There  are  enough  left 
for  another  killing."  I  see  the  army  of  the  Cumberland 
write  one,  as  in  the  late  afternoon  it  sweeps  up  Missionary 
Ridge  like  the  rolling  billows  of  the  in-coming  tide,  and 
dashes  itself  over  the  mountain  top  like  the  foam  of  the 
billows  tossed  above  the  rocks  on  the  shore.  Yes,  great, 
noble  epic  poems,  that  will  never  die  while  the  flag  floats. 
But  there  is  another  thought.  Why  these  deeds  of 
daring  ?  Why  did  the  war,  with  its  awful  sacrifice,  con- 
tinue through  four  long  years  and  end  only  at  Appomat- 
tox ?  Some  answer  must  be  given  big  enough  to  match 
the  bigness  of  the  question.  Perhaps  the  answer  is  that 
God  had  a  sublime  and  terrible  epic  poem  that  He  would 
write.  It  may  be  that  the  battle-fields  are  the  letters 
that  spell  out  His  poem.  It  is  possible  that  the  sun 
shines  in  the  heavens  in  the  daytime,  and  the  stars  twinkle 
in  the  sky  in  the  night  time,  to  throw  a  light  upon  this 
fair  land  of  ours  that  all  may  read  the  poem.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  believe  that  God  has  spoken  in  Lincoln  and 
Grant  and  Lee  and  Sherman  and  Johnston  and  Thomas, 
and  the  brave  men  that  followed  them,  and  that  through 
them  he  has  said:  "Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation," 


SAMUEL  C.  MITCHELL  369 

"Truth  is  the  strength  of  a  people,"  "Freedom  is  the 
priceless  heritage  of  every  man,"  "Love  is  the  mightiest 
power  of  civilization."  These  men  who  bore  the  brunt 
of  battle  thought  so.  We  of  this  generation  and  of 
generations  yet  unborn  must  think  so. 


APPOMATTOX  AND  THE  AGE 

SAMUEL  C.   MITCHELL 
President  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina 

(Condensed  from  an  address  delivered  at  Richmond  College, 
Virginia,  April  9,  1906.) 

This  ninth  day  of  April  is  the  anniversary  of  Appomat- 
tox, and  the  mind  naturally  dwells  upon  the  meaning  of 
that  event.  How  shall  we  account  for  the  disaster  which 
there  overtook  us?  A  review  of  the  times  and  tenden- 
cies of  that  day  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  circum- 
stances that  led  up  to  our  calamity. 

In  the  Atlantic  Ocean  there  is  only  one  gulf  current, 
but  in  the  nineteenth  century  there  were  three  gulf 
currents.  These  three  streams  of  tendency  are  as  trace- 
able, as  measurable,  and  as  potent  in  their  influence  as 
that  resistless  river  in  the  sea.  These  three  tendencies 
in  the  nineteenth  century  were:  (1)  a  liberal  tendency; 
(2)  a  national  tendency,  and  (3)  an  industrial  tendency. 

Circumstances  —  cruel  circumstances  that  bring  tears 
at  the  thought  —  had  shut  the  South  out  of  a  share  in 
these  three  mighty  influences  of  that  century.  Destiny 
seemed  to  have  arrayed  her  against  them,  in  spite  of  the 


370  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

fact  that  in  the  closing  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Virginia's  own  sons  were  pioneers  in  the  advocacy  of 
national  and  liberal  measures.  Such  is  the  pathos  and 
irony  of  the  civil  tragedy.  Madison,  as  the  father  of 
the  Constitution;  Washington,  putting  his  strong  stamp 
upon  the  Federal  executive;  Marshall,  giving  force  to 
the  Federal  judiciary;  and  Jefferson,  drafting  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787,  excluding  slavery  from  the  Northwest 
Territory  —  these  men  and  measures  appeared  prophetic 
of  a  destiny  for  the  South  the  reverse  of  what  ensued. 
The  shift  in  the  scene  was  made  by  Eli  Whitney  in  his 
invention,  in  1793,  of  the  cotton-gin,  which  rendered 
slavery  profitable  in  the  raising  of  cotton,  a  product  so 
well  suited  to  the  climate  and  soil  of  the  South. 

As  a  result,  the  South  found  itself  at  variance  with  the 
rapid  changes  which  had  swept  over  the  world  during 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  South  was 
led  by  this  train  of  circumstances:  (1)  to  hold  on  to 
slavery  in  opposition  to  the  liberal  tendency  of  the  age; 
(2)  to  insist  upon  state  rights  in  opposition  to  nation- 
ality; (3)  to  content  herself  with  agriculture  alone,  instead 
of  embracing  the  rising  industrialism. 

It  was  an  instance  of  arrested  development.  The  facts 
do  not  permit  us  to  escape  this  conclusion,  notwithstand- 
ing that  there  was  so  much  of  nobility,  chivalry,  and 
beautiful  life  in  the  old  South  to  love  and  admire.  It  was 
these  historic  forces  —  the  liberal,  national,  and  indus- 
trial— that  won  at  Appomattox  over  the  South,  in  spite 
of  the  genius  of  Lee,  the  heroism  of  her  sons,  and  the 
sacrifices  of  her  daughters. 

If  this  be  the  interpretation  of  the  confused  forces  in 
that  time  that  tried  men's  souls,  then  certain  duties 


HENRY  LOUIS  SMITH  371 

become  clear  as  to  the  South  of  our  day.  These  are: 
(1)  to  liberalize  it  in  thought;  (2)  to  nationalize  it  in 
politics;  and  (3)  to  industrialize  it  in  production.  Grati- 
fyingly  are  these  new  forces  at  work,  forces  which  are 
to  recreate  the  commonwealths  of  the  South  in  all  that 
makes  for  progress  and  power.  Education  is  a  present 
ferment;  industrialism,  especially  in  cotton  and  iron  mills, 
is  making  vast  strides;  the  Panama  canal  will  put  us  on 
the  pathway  of  the  world.  May  we  not  look  forward 
to  the  time  when  the  resources  of  our  mines,  forests,  and 
pastures  will  be  turned  by  the  skill  of  the  artisan  into 
finished  products  bringing  to  us  untold  riches?  Would 
we  make  cotton  king  ?  Let  us  aspire  to  spin  every  fiber 
of  our  exhaustless  fields.  By  such  alignments  with  this 
wondrous  mother-age  we  shall  enable  the  South  to  take 
her  rightful  part  in  determining  the  national  destiny. 


OLD  IDEALS  AND  THE  OLD  SOUTH 

HENRY  LOUIS   SMITH 
President  of  Davidson  College 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  before  the  University  Col- 
lege of  Medicine,  Richmond,  Virginia,  May  12,  1904.) 

I  wish  to  reaffirm  what  the  old  South  believed  in  the 
time  of  her  greatest  glory,  and  what  the  shades  of  her 
mighty  dead  still  teach  from  storied  urn  and  monumental 
granite  —  that  the  foundation  of  all  true  greatness, 
whether  of  an  individual  or  a  nation,  is  moral,  not  material. 
Our  possessions,  our  houses  and  lands,  our  railroads  and 


372  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

factories,  our  cannon  and  battle-ships  are  but  dirt  — 
among  them  national  character  rises  like  a  marble  shaft 
amid  piles  of  rubbish.  The  question  of  deepest  moment 
is  not  what  we  have,  but  what  we  are.  National  wealth 
may  come  and  go,  national  power  may  wax  and  wane; 
the  passing  centuries  are  changing  national  customs  in 
dress,  manners,  architecture,  and  modes  of  government 
—  but  the  great  moral  judgments  of  the  world,  moral 
standards,  moral  laws,  moral  ideals  —  these  stand  un- 
changed from  age  to  age.  They  are  like  some  granite 
cliff  overlooking  a  stormy  sea.  At  its  base  the  tide  ebbs 
and  flows,  the  sea  ripples  in  music  or  roars  in  anger;  its 
summit  is  covered  alternately  with  summer's  flowers  or 
winter's  snow,  against  its  rocky  face  the  sun  shines  and 
the  tempests  beat  —  yet  earthquake  and  storm  but 
settle  it  more  firmly  on  its  eternal  base,  and  when  each 
short-lived  tumult  has  subsided,  it  still  looks  out  un- 
changed over  land  and  sea.  No  transient  splendor  of 
accumulated  wealth  can  make  a  nation  truly  rich  or 
truly  great.  Its  invisible  assets  must  be  counted  up  — 
civic  honor  and  purity,  height  of  national  ideals,  capacity 
for  heroism  and  self-sacrifice,  commercial  honesty  and 
domestic  virtue,  diffused  moral  culture,  treasures  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood  —  these  cannot  be  measured  by 
long  lists  of  industrial  enterprises,  by  so  many  dollars 
per  capita  of  manufactured  products,  nor  even  by  per- 
centages of  literacy  and  illiteracy. 

Prosperity  is  a  severer  test  of  a  people's  true  character 
than  adversity.  Will  the  new  South  stand  the  tropic 
sunshine  as  their  fathers  did  the  storm?  Vegetables,  we 
know,  grow  best  in  sunshine  and  balmy  air;  the  finer 
growths  of  manhood,  alas,  are  often  blighted  by  the 


WOODROW  WILSON  373 

sun  and  wither  away  under  a  cloudless  sky.  If  the  old 
spiritual  and  moral  ideals  of  our  people  are  to  be  replaced 
by  cold,  shrewd,  tireless,  triumphant  commercialism;  if 
liberal  culture,  ethical  standards,  and  true  moral  great- 
ness are  to  be  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  mammon;  if  grow- 
ing wealth  and  luxury  are  to  culminate  in  gross  material- 
ism, then  God  pity  the  land  of  Washington  and  Jefferson, 
of  Lee  and  Jackson.  In  that  case,  though  our  air  is 
vibrant  with  humming  spindles,  and  our  land  gridironed 
with  busy  railroads,  and  every  hill  crowned  with  the 
palace  of  a  millionaire,  yet  the  true  glory  of  the  South 
will  be  in  her  glorious  past. 


THE  CONTACT  OF  MINDS 

WOODROW  WILSON 
President  of  Princeton  University 

(From  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  following  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Ernest  F.  Nichols  as  President  of  Dartmouth  College,  October 
14,  1009.) 

The  only  lasting  stuff  for  friendship  is  community  of 
conviction;  the  only  lasting  basis  is  that  moral  basis  in 
which  all  true  intellectual  life  has  its  rootage  and  sus- 
tenance, and  those  are  the  rootages  of  character,  not  the 
rootages  of  knowledge. /Knowledge  is  merely,  in  its  uses, 
the  evidence  of  character,  it  does  not  produce  character. 
Some  oftne~*most  learned  of  men  have  been  among  the 
meanest  of  men,  and  some  of  the  noblest  of  men  have 
been  illiterate,  but  have  nevertheless  shown  their  nobility 
by  using  such  powers  as  they  had  for  high  purposes. 


374  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

We  never  shall  succeed  in  creating  this  organic  passion, 
this  great  use  of  the  mind,  which  is  fundamental,  until 
we  have  made  real  communities  of  our  colleges  and  have 
utterly  destroyed  the  practise  of  a  merely  formal  con- 
tact, however  intimate,  between  the  teacher  and  the 
pupil.  Until  we  live  together  in  a  common  community 
and  expose  each  other  to  the  general  infection,  there  will 
be  no  infection.  You  cannot  make  learned  men  of 
..undergraduates  by  associating  them  intimately  with 
each  other,  because  they  are  too  young  to  be  learned 
men  yet  themselves ;  but  you  can  create  the  infection  of 
learning  by  associating  undergraduates  with  men  who 
are  learned,  j 

How  much  do  you  know  of  the  character  of  the  average 
college  professor  whom  you  have  heard  lecture?  Of  some 
professors,  if  you  had  known  .more  you  would  have  believeoT 
less  of  what  they  said;  of  some  professors,  if  you  had 
known  more_you  would  have  believed  more  of  what  they 
saidN  One  of  the  dryest  lecturers  on  American  history 
I  ever  heard  in  my  life  was  also  a  man  more  learned  than 
any  other  man  I  ever  knew  in  American  history,  and  out 
of  the  class  room,  in  conversation,  one  of  the  juiciest, 
most  delightful,  most  informing,  most  stimulating  men  I 
ever  had  the  pleasure  of  associating  with.  The  man  in 
the  class  room  was  useless,  out  of  the  class  room  he  fer- 
tilized every  mind  that  he  touched.  And(most  of  us  are 
really  found  out  in  the  informal  contacts  of  life.  If  you 
want  to  know  what  I  know  about  a  subject,,  don't  set 
me  up  to  make  a  speech  about  it,  because  I  have^he_ 
floor  and  you  cannot  interrupt  me,  and  I  can  leave  out 
the  things  I  want  to jeay£_Qut  and  ^nngjnjhe  things  I 
want  to  bring  in.    If  you  xeally.  want  to  know  what  I 


BENJAMIN  IDE  WHEELER  375 

know,  sit  down  and  ask  me  questions,  interrupt  me, 
contradict  me,  and  see  how  I  hold  my  ground.  If  that 
method  were  followed,  the  undergraduate  might  make  a 
consoling  discovery  of  how  ignorant  his  professor  was, 
as  well  as  many  a  stimulating  discovery  of  how  well 
hn^onaed  he  was^>^ 

I  suppose  a^great  many  dull  men  must  try  to  teach, 
and  if  dull  men  have  to  teach,  they  have  to  teach  by 
method  that  dull  men  can  follow.  But  they  never  teach 
anybody  anything.  It  is  merely  that  the  university,  in 
order  to  have  a  large  corps,  must  go  through  the  motions; 
but  the  real  vital  processes  are  in  spots,  in  such  circum- 
stances, and  only  in  spots,  and  you  must  hope  that  the 
spots  will  spread. 


(JJHE  UNIVERSITY  AND  PETTY  POLITICS 

BENJAMIN  IDE  WHEELER 
President  of  the  University  of  California 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
inauguration  of  David  F.  Houston  as  President  of  the  University 
of  Texas,  at  Austin,  Texas,  April  19,  1906.) 

Unless  the  university  in  all  its  working  and  being  can 
rise,  like  a  lighthouse,  high  and  clean  above  the  surging 
and  dashing  of  the  transient  and  the  sordid,  unless  it 
can  lay  hold  with  its  foundations  upon  something  more 
solid  than  the  shifting  sands  of  opinion  and  prejudice, 
unless  it  can  look  down  calm  and  undismayed  in  its 
anchorage  of  truth  upon  the  battling  waves  around  it, 


376  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

conscious  that  their  fury  cannot  reach  it,  there  might 
as  well  be  no  university.  Its  light  will  be  no  good.  It 
will  fail  when  needed  most.  It  will  deceive  those  who 
trust  it. 

I  am  warning  here  not  alone  about  the  common  brew 
of  party  politics,  but  about  the  meaner  brew  that  is 
stirred  in  the  name  of  private  pull:  the  influential  citizen 
who  wants  his  wife's  cousin  appointed  to  an  instructor- 
ship;  the  editor  who  wages  a  grudge  because  a  friend  who 
was  an  incompetent  instructor  lost  his  place;  the  assembly- 
man whose  brother's  boy  must  not  be  expelled  lest 
appropriations  in  the  next  legislature  suffer;  the  pro- 
fessor whose  salary  had  better  be  raised  because  it  will 
be  acceptable  to  certain  important  people  with  whom 
he  goes  camping  in  summer;  the  janitor  who,  though 
he  toils  not  neither  does  he  spin,  is  girt  with  the  breast- 
plate of  membership  in  some  order  that  must  not  be 
offended,  or  has  rendered  service  in  the  primaries;  the 
builder  and  contractor  who  skimps  the  mortar  of  cement, 
but  is  related  to  a  prominent  politician;  the  man  who  has 
always  been  a  warm  supporter  of  the  university,  and  has 
shown  this  by  sending  three  of  his  children  to  enjoy 
its  free  education,  and  who  now  feels  that  the  professor 
of  chemistry  ought  to  find  the  right  ingredients  in  the 
oil  from  his  well;  the  man  who  wants  a  position  to  teach 
French,  and,  though  he  cannot  speak  French  himself, 
belongs  to  an  influential  family  and  had  an  uncle  who 
once  played  the  French  horn.  All  this  business  is  full 
of  backhanded  blackmail  and  backhanded  stealing,  but 
is  tolerated  and  often  promoted  by  otherwise  well-inten- 
tioned citizens  of  sluggish  public  conscience,  who  dazedly 
conform  to  the  vulgate  notion  that  some  way  or  other 


WILLIAM  F.  WEBSTER  377 

public  money  cannot  be  expected  to  have  as  much  value 
as  other  money.  A  public  official,  whether  president 
or  regent  of  the  university,  or  member  of  a  school 
board',  or  mayor  of  a  city,  or  governor  of  a  state,  or  keeper 
of  the  dog  pound,  who  uses  his  position  to  secure  public 
office  and  pay  for  a  man  inferior  to  the  available  best, 
because  of  personal  and  private  relations  or  obligations 
to  that  man,  has  used  public  money  wherewith  to  settle 
private  accounts;  he  has  treated  a  public  trust  as  a  private 
possession;  he  has  stolen  public  money;  he  is  a  thief. 
The  man  who  urges  an  official  to  do  such  a  thing  has 
incited  to  theft,  and  is  partaker  in  the  crime.  If  there 
is  any  doubt  about  it,  wherein  does  the  doubt  lie  ? 


OUR  COUNTRY'S  NEED  OF  EDUCATED  MEN 

WILLIAM  F.   WEBSTER 
Principal  of  the  East  High  School  of  Minneapolis 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Minnesota  Educational 
Association,  1909.) 

What  a  need  there  is  for  educated  men!  Keeping 
abreast  of  the  times,  we  are  all  fast  learning  that  true 
greatness  is  measured  by  large  service.  And  the  men 
that  look  beyond  their  dinners  and  their  playthings  and 
hear  the  harsh  creaking  of  the  great  industrial  machine, 
the  men  that  are  conducting  the  large  enterprises  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  hard  conditions  of  life  are  clear- 
visioned,  warm-hearted  men  of  education.  The  men  that 
have  made  two  blades  of  wheat  to  grow  where  before 


378  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

there  was  but  one,  and  so  have  increased  the  value  of 
farm  products  in  our  state  tens  of  millions  each  year; 
the  men  that  have  gathered  the  snows  from  the  moun- 
tains, and  from  them  sent  sparkling  water  coursing  through 
the  deserts  of  the  West  until  now  they  breathe  sweet 
incense  and  bring  forth  rich  fruits  in  their  season;  the 
men  that  in  fancy  saw  in  the  filthy  purlieus  of  Mulberry 
Bend  a  beautiful  opening  where  little  children  could 
drink  in  life  and  joy,  and  look  up  into  the  deep,  blue 
sky,  and  behold  the  big,  bright  sun;  that  have  set  in  the 
midst  of  naked  poverty,  starving  want,  and  ignorant 
immorality,  sweet  homes  of  refuge,  to  which  the  children 
of  crime  and  despair  may  flee,  and  from  which  sweetness 
and  light  radiate  to  the  darkest  alleys  of  the  human 
heart;  the  men  that  are  working  for  an  international 
peace,  for  the  day  when  the  horrid  demons  of  war 
shall  be  slain,  and  the  labor  of  man  shall  be  for  the 
" healing  of  the  nations";  in  every  department  of 
the  world's  work,  the  men  that  are  doing  the  things 
worth  while  are  educated  men.  It  was  the  universities 
that  were  the  fountain  which  poured  the  flood  that  over- 
whelmed the  Czar,  and  wrested  from  that  autocrat  a 
partial  recognition  of  the  rights  of  a  great  people;  and 
in  Turkey  to-day  the  men  that  so  wisely  have  managed 
a  difficult  situation  and  have  rid  that  nation  of  the  cen- 
tury's foulest  blot  are  educated  men.  In  the  last  cen- 
tury, who  were  the  great  statesmen  that  shaped  the 
politics  of  the  world?  "Cavour,  whose  monument  is 
united  Italy,  —  one  from  the  Alps  to  Tarentum,  from 
the  lagoons  of  Venice  to  the  Gulf  of  Salerno;  Bismarck, 
the  iron  chancellor,  who  raised  the  German  empire  from 
a  name  to  a  fact;  Gladstone,  but  yesterday  the  incarnate 


WILLIAM  F.  WEBSTER  379 

heart  and  conscience  of  England";  Everett,  Sumner,  and 
Phillips  —  those  giants  of  oratory,  hurling  winged  words 
of  truth,  tipped  with  fire  from  Liberty's  altar,  which 
roused  the  sleeping  eyes  of  a  nation  to  behold  the  awful 
crime  of  slavery:  all,  all  scholars.  When  the  scholar 
lifts  his  wand,  the  Titans  of  modern  industry,  Steam  and 
Electricity,  throw  his  shuttles,  forge  his  steel,  lift  and 
carry,  and  run  his  errands.  At  his  bidding,  springing 
arches  leap  the  mountain  torrent;  the  filmy  tissues  of 
fancy  grow  into  palaces  more  wonderful  than  Caesar's 
golden  house  that  crowned  the  Palatine.  Penniless  him- 
self, the  scholar  cries,  "Open,  sesame,"  and  the  dark 
caves  of  glittering  treasure  fly  open,  while  the  grim  guard- 
ians stand  back  and  bid  him  take  and  use.  He  is  prophet 
and  seer;  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  night,  he  catches 
the  first  dim  streaks  of  the  purpling  dawn.  He  beholds 
the  new  day  when  there  shall  be  no  more  pain  and  sorrow, 
when  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  dwell  together  in 
peace,  when  every  man  shall  receive  the  full  reward  of 
his  labor,  and  each  shall  lift  up  his  heart  to  God,  his 
Father,  and  reach  out  his  hand  to  man,  his  brother.  In 
every  age,  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth  have  been 
seen  first  by  the  prophetic  eye  of  the  scholar. 


380  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 


THREE  TESTS  OF  EDUCATION 

E.   ERLE   SPARKS 
President  of  Pennsylvania  State  College 

(Condensed  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
July  i,  1909.) 

The  three  great  tests  of  effective  education  are  service, 
usefulness,  and  obedience. 

The  word  "servant,"  along  with  the  words  "man" 
and  "woman,"  has  almost  disappeared  from  our  American 
vocabulary.  As  we  are  all  "ladies"  and  "gents"  now, 
so  we  are  employees,  not  servants.  Young  men  will  sit 
pale  and  hollow-chested  at  a  desk  rather  than  work  on  a 
farm  because  they  do  not  propose  to  be  anybody's  ser- 
vant; and  young  women  will  work  as  clerks  rather  than 
enter  clean,  bright,  wholesome  kitchens  as  "servants"; 
and  young  high  school  graduates  nowadays  are  willing 
to  begin  at  the  top.  Young  men  are  not  willing  to  serve 
their  time,  nor  their  apprenticeship.  Horace  Greeley 
served  an  apprenticeship  of  six  years  at  forty  dollars  a 
year,  and  then,  when  being  asked  the  best  way  to  make 
an  editor  out  of  a  boy,  replied,  "You  must  feed  him  on 
printer's  ink." 

The  second  test  of  education  is  usefulness.  A  young 
man  should  be  worth  something  when  he  has  gotten 
through  school.  As  an  example  to  be  avoided,  take  the 
son  of  the  farmer  who,  being  asked,  "Did  your  boy  take 
French?"  replied,  "No,  he  says  he  never  took  it,  though 
he  was  exposed  to  it."    Another  man  sent  his  son  to 


E.  ERLE  SPARKS  381 

college  because  he  did  not  want  him  to  have  to  work  as 
hard  as  he  had  had  to  work.  But  he  should  work  all  the 
harder.  Toil  laid  the  foundation  of  American  character. 
When  Abraham  Lincoln's  mother  died  there  was  not  a 
physician  within  thirty-five  miles,  and  when  Abraham 
went  to  bed  he  crawled  up  into  a  garret  and  slept  on  the 
hay  and  fodder.  Toil  must  be  taught  in  the  home  and 
in  the  school.  The  editor  of  the  Ladies7  Home  Journal 
or  some  other  ladylike  man  may  write  an  editorial  telling 
you  that  you  are  working  the  pupils  too  hard,  but  for 
every  boy  who  has  broken  down  from  overstudy  there 
are  half  a  dozen  who  have  broken  down  from  "over 
tobacco.' '  And  for  every  girl  who  has  broken  down 
through  overstudy  there  are  a  half  dozen  who  have 
broken  down  through  over  society,  overdress,  and  late 
hours  —  trying  to  be  women  before  they  are  through 
being  girls. 

The  third  test,  obedience,  is  another  unpopular  test. 
However,  the  most  dangerous  spot  in  American  life  to-day 
is  the  lack  of  respect  for  authority.  Roosevelt  spent 
seven  years  trying  to  make  the  people  in  high  places 
obey  the  law,  and  he  contended  that  what  we  need  is 
not  more  laws,  but  the  better  enforcement  of  the  laws 
which  we  have. 

Obedience  and  respect  for  authority  must  be  taught 
in  the  home  to  become  a  habit.  This  is  illustrated  by 
the  story  of  the  two  football  captains  of  the  Harvard  and 
West  Point  teams  who,  being  asked  by  the  official  at  the 
beginning  of  a  game,  "Are  you  ready?"  the  one  replied, 
"Let  her  go,"  and  the  second,  "We  are  ready,  sir";  and 
also  by  the  story  of  Bill  Anthony,  who  reported  to  Cap- 
tain Sigsbee  of  the  Maine,  "I  have  to  report,  sir,  that 


382  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  vessel  is  blown  up  and  is  sinking."  Obedience  can 
never  be  taught  at  school  unless  it  has  been  first  taught 
at  home. 


EDUCATION  AND  SERVICE 

JAMES  H.   BAKER 
President  of  the  University  of  Colorado 

(Extract  from  the  baccalaureate  address  at  the  University  of 
Colorado  June,  1908.) 

You  remember  the  vision  of  Ibsen's  John  Gabriel 
Borkman  as  he  stands  in  a  winter  midnight  on  an  open 
plateau  in  the  firwood  under  the  shadow  of  the  mountain 
and  facing  the  fiord  and  distant  range,  and  recalls  lov- 
ingly the  early  ambitions  of  a  now  broken  life.  Using 
in  part  the  poet's  phrases:  He  sees  the  smoke  of  great 
steamships  on  the  fiord  that  weave  a  network  of  fellow- 
ship all  round  the  world;  he  hears  the  hum  of  factories 
with  wheels  whirling  and  bands  flashing  day  and  night; 
he  sees  in  the  mountain  ranges  the  buried  millions,  the 
veins  of  metal  stretching  out  their  winding,  branching, 
luring  arms  to  him  begging  to  be  liberated,  to  be  free, 
unborn  treasures  yearning  for  the  light;  and  all  these 
seem  a  shining  train  of  power  and  glory,  all  his  kingdom 
to  be  conquered.  Ibsen's  hero  made  a  false  god  of  his 
ambition  and  a  metal  hand  finally  gripped  him  by  the 
heart.  But  the  picture  may  represent  worthy  visions 
of  men  who,  in  an  age  when  the  sword  has  been  beaten 
into  marvelous  implements  of  industry,  execute  enter- 
prises that  would  challenge  the  organizing  power  of  a 
Caesar  or  Napoleon  —  men  who  have  not  felt  the  chill 


JAMES  H.  BAKER  383 

blast,  whose  hearts  have  not  been  clutched  by  the  ice- 
hand.  Goethe's  Faust  has  the  vision  of  power  over 
nature's  forces: 

"This  world  means  something  to  the  capable, 
Make  grandly  visible  my  daring  plan!" 

But  it  is  by  the  light  of  an  inner  revelation  that  he  sees 
his  work  should  help  men,  and,  when  the  purpose  to 
leave  a  permanent  blessing  to  his  fellows  arises,  the 
supreme  moment  of  happiness  which  he  would  fain  pro- 
long has  come,  the  happiness  which  he  has  so  long  and 
deviously  pursued.  The  German  education  everywhere 
looks  toward  service  to  state  and  society,  and  this  is 
properly  one  of  its  chief  functions;  our  education  must 
train  men  to  meet  the  increasing  extent,  complexness, 
and  refinements  of  modern  activities.  To-day  religion 
and  ethics  and  poetry  and  philosophy  and  science  and 
all  knowledge  must  be  realized  in  practical  life.  The 
philosophy  is  not,  "Hitch  your  wagon  to  a  star,"  but  Hitch 
your  star  to  a  wagon.  From  bricklaying  to  lawmaking 
too  many  are  unskilled,  and,  what  is  worse,  they  don't 
care;  and  the  schools  have  to  weigh  this  fact.  Huxley's 
enormous  longing  for  the  highest  and  best  in  all  shapes 
should  reach  every  practical  occupation  as  well  as  the 
world  of  so-called  culture  interests.  Moreover,  the  idea 
of  service  must  be  infused  into  labor  and  enterprise. 
We  rail  not  at  commerce,  but  at  the  commercial  spirit. 
If  formal  education  cannot  give  special  skill,  it  should  at 
least  develop  will  and  pride  in  accomplishment  and 
above  all  the  ideals  that  make  men  responsible  and 
mutually  helpful.  In  the  long  eight  years  of  high  school 
and  college  some  part  may  well  be  reorganized  to  lead 


384  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

to  more  definite  ends  or  at  least  to  give  the  power  and 
desire  to  do  thoroughly  and  well  a  part  of  the  world's 
work.  Training  should  end  in  concentration,  not  diffu- 
sion, and  should  bear  flower  and  fruit. 


EDUCATION  AND  RESPONSIBILITY 

HARRY  NOBLE  WILSON 

Pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota 

(Extract  from  a  commencement  address  at  the  University  of 
Colorado  June,  1908.) 

In  the  magnificent  Capitol  building  of  the  state  of 
Minnesota,  as  one  enters  the  Senate  Chamber  he  sees 
in  letters  of  gold,  which  extend  around  the  great  room, 
these  pregnant  words  of  Daniel  Webster,  "Let  us  develop 
the  resources  of  our  land,  call  forth  its  powers,  build  up 
its  institutions,  promote  all  its  great  interests,  and  see 
whether  we  also  in  our  day  and  generation  may  not 
perform  something  worthy  to  be  remembered."  To  have 
this  sense  of  obligation,  to  understand  its  nature,  to  have 
the  glorious  consciousness  of  the  weight  of  responsibility 
upon  our  shoulders,  to  achieve  things  that  really  are 
worth  while,  this  transforms  life  and  ennobles  it. 

Poorly  have  the  educated  caught  the  meaning  of  their 
years  of  special  training,  if  they  cannot  fully  agree  with 
Hurlburt  that  the  distinctive  idea  of  education  is,  not 
to  increase  what  one  knows,  but  to  augment  what  one 
is.  It  is  the  true  glory  of  living  to  realize  that  we  are 
not  merely  cogs  in  a  great  machine,  drops  in  an  infinite 


HARRY  NOBLE  WILSON  385 

ocean,  but  that  each  one  of  us  is  a  living,  sentient,  think- 
ing, loving  human  being.  For  right  equipment  for 
highest  service,  the  need  is  to  realize  just  that:  to  gain  a 
clear,  plain,  and  definite  conviction  of  one's  personality, 
of  one's  own  selfhood;  to  be  able  to  say,  "Here  I  am, 
created  by  God  for  a  definite  purpose;  set  down  amid  a 
billion  and  a  half  of  other  men  and  women,  exactly  like  . 
none  other  of  all  the  fifteen  hundred  millions  swarming 
upon  the  globe  to-day,  therefore  will  I  have  the  self- 
respect  that  is  the  corner-stone  of  all  virtues,  therefore 
will  I  make  the  best  possible  use  of  the  peculiar  faculties 
which  are  mine,  therefore  will  I  develop  my  capabilities 
and  all  the  faculties  of  mind  and  body  to  the  utmost, 
therefore  will  I  consecrate  them  all  to  the  service  of 
humanity." 

Mrs.  Humphry  Ward  makes  one  of  her  characters  go 
out  into  the  night  and  look  up  at  the  stars  and  wonder 
whether  he,  only  one  among  millions  on  earth,  and  earth 
but  one  of  countless  worlds,  can  be  the  object  of  any 
special  thought  and  care  on  the  part  of  God.  Then  he 
remembers  that  he  himself  is  greater  than  the  world  he 
stands  upon,  greater  than  the  gleaming  stars,  because 
stars  and  worlds  are  unthinking  masses  of  matter  at  the 
best,  and  he  can  think. 

Wise  old  Seneca  said,  "When  thou  hast  profited  so 
much  that  thou  respectest  thyself,  thou  mayest  let  go 
thy  tutor."  It  is  this  equipment  that  enables  the  man 
who  has  seen  the  basis  and  nature  of  his  responsibility 
to  rise  in  some  degree  to  the  repayment  of  all  the  toil 
and  thought  and  suffering  and  prayer  the  race  has 
expended  upon  his  upbringing. 

A  sculptor  once  asked  Michael  Angelo  to  come  and  see 


3$6  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

his  statue  of  St.  George  intended  for  a  church  in  Florence. 
In  admiration  and  surprise  the  great  master  gazed  at  the 
marble  form.  Every  limb  was  perfect,  every  line  true, 
the  face  was  lighted  with  thought,  determination,  and 
courage.  The  brow  was  uplifted,  the  foot  forward  as  if 
it  would  step  into  life.  Anxiously  the  sculptor  waited 
for  the  verdict  of  the  great  critic.  Looking  earnestly 
upon  the  statue,  Angelo  lifted  his  hand  and  said,  "Now 
march!"  It  was  grander  than  any  encomium  he  could 
speak. 

God  has  given  you  great  abilities.  He  has  given 
you  powers  for  use  and  service  untold.  He  has  placed 
you  amid  wonderful  surroundings.  He  sends  you  out 
into  touch  with  the  needy,  helpless  world.  And  as  I 
stand  facing  you  this  morning,  realizing  that,  I  say  with 
Angelo,  "Now  march!" 


AMERICAN  AND  EDUCATIONAL  EXPANSION 

GEORGE  EDWIN  MACLEAN 

President  of  the  State  University  of  Iowa 

(Extract  from  a  commencement  address  delivered  at  Syracuse 
University  June,  1909.) 

American  is  a  word  that  thrills  us,  and  harnessed  to 
expansion,  it  stirs  us  as  the  word  empire  stirs  a  Briton, 
of  which  Rosebery  says:  "It  represents  to  us  our  history, 
our  tradition,  our  race.  It  is  a  matter  of  peace,  of  com- 
merce, of  civilization,  above  all,  a  question  of  faith." 
The  use  of  the  term  makes  it  necessary  for  us  to  guard 


GEORGE  EDWIN  MacLEAN  3S7 

against  bombast,  braggadocio,  and  chauvinism.  We  smile 
complacently  at  the  spirit  and  mixed  metaphor  of  the 
undergraduate  in  the  Oxford  Union  who  declared  in  the 
heat  of  the  debate  that  the  British  lion,  whether  he 
roamed  in  the  jungles  of  India,  or  climbed  the  pines  in 
Canada,  never  retreated  into  his  shell  or  drew  in  his 
horns!  We  Americans  are  prone  to  forget  that  spread- 
eagleism  is  still  our  besetting  sin,  less  modified  in  behavior 
than  in  speech. 

The  plain  meaning  of  American  needs  to  be  taught  to 
many  of  us.  American  stands  for  something  more  than 
territory,  descent,  society,  wealth,  and  accomplishments. 
It  represents  a  spirit;  to  the  old  world  it  means  the  new, 
and  as  their  remarks  upon  our  institutions  and  their  read- 
ings in  our  literature  show,  it  is  too  often  merely  the 
novel.  American  signifies  the  fresh,  but  not  necessarily 
the  freaky.  Let  us  try  to  define.  American  means  the 
best  for  all  and  all  for  the  best.  That  is,  equal  oppor- 
tunity for  all  and  all  inspired  with  ideals  for  the  best. 
The  birthright  of  humanity  is  opportunity  and  the  pos- 
sible attainment  of  the  best.  In  the  breadth  of  our 
common  democracy,  with  full  recognition  of  the  varying 
powers  of  persons,  there  will  be  an  elevating  aristocracy, 
the  aristocracy  of  service,  and  where  touched  by  Chris- 
tianity, of  sacrifice.  Rising  from  the  cross,  the  American 
eagle  may  have  healing  in  his  wings  for  the  nations. 
For  real  expansion  means  to  open  out,  to  unfold.  It  is  a 
growth  from  within,  and  while  it  may  appropriate  what 
is  beyond,  it  is  only  to  assimilate  and  elevate.  Like  all 
movements  of  note,  it  is  mighty  and  beyond  man. 

The  responsibilities  of  American  expansion  are  stupen- 
dous.   Our  safeguard  is  to  be  found  in  part  in  educational 


388  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

expansion  which  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  American 
expansion.  Rosebery  has  said,  "In  the  last  resolve,  the 
efficiency  of  a  nation  rests  in  its  education.' '  The  highest 
promise  and  the  fullest  potency  of  educational  efficiency 
and  unity  are  in  the  recognition  of  the  personal  and  the 
ethical  in  education.  Church,  state,  and  private  insti- 
tutions, with  antagonisms  disappearing,  are  swinging 
into  their  orbits  in  a  national  galaxy  about  the  full  orbed 
character  —  education.  In  this  day  of  our  entrance  as 
a  world  power  in  a  twentieth-century  ethical  era,  educa- 
tional efficiency  and  expansion  must  be  our  saving  salt 
at  home  and  abroad. 

May  it  not  be  permitted  to  the  American  educator  as 
patriot,  in  view  of  the  potency  of  American  and  educa- 
tional expansion,  to  sing  James  Whitcomb  Riley's  song, 
the  "Messiah  of  Nations": 

"High  o'erlooking  sea  and  land, 

America! 
Trustfully  with  outheld  hand, 

America! 
Thou  dost  welcome  all  in  quest 
Of  thy  freedom,  peace,  and  rest  — 
Every  exile  is  thy  guest  — 

America!    America! 

"Thine  a  universal  love, 

America! 
Thine  the  cross  and  crown  thereof, 

America! 
Aid  us,  then,  to  sing  thy  worth; 
God  hath  builded  from  thy  birth, 
The  first  Nation  of  the  Earth  — 

America!  America!" 


JULIUS    KAHN  389 


THE  MUCK-RAKER 

JULIUS   KAHN 
Congressman  from  California 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
March  26,  1910.) 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1906,  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  office  building  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  President  Roosevelt  said: 

In  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  the  man  with  the  muck-rake  is  set  forth 
as  the  example  of  him  whose  vision  is  fixed  on  carnal  instead  of 
on  spiritual  things.  Yet  he  also  typifies  the  man  who,  in  this  life, 
consistently  refuses  to  see  aught  that  is  lofty  and  fixes  his  eyes 
with  solemn  intentness  only  on  that  which  is  vile  and  debasing. 
.  .  .  The  liar  is  no  whit  better  than  the  thief,  and  if  his  mendacity 
takes  the  form  of  slander,  he  may  be  worse  than  most  thieves.  It 
puts  a  premium  on  knavery  untruthfully  to  attack  an  honest  man, 
or  even  with  hysterical  exaggeration  to  assail  a  bad  man  with  untruth. 

In  this  connection  I  am  reminded  of  an  incident  that 
occurred  in  the  city  of  Sacramento,  in  1895,  during  a 
session  of  the  California  legislature.  Major  Frank 
McLaughlin,  a  well-known  citizen  of  our  state,  was  at 
the  capital  attending  to  some  matters  pending  before 
the  legislature.  One  morning  there  appeared  in  one  of 
the  San  Francisco  newspapers  an  article  which  reflected 
somewhat  upon  the  good  name  and  character  of  an  esti- 
mable citizen  of  Oakland,  California,  wherein  it  was 
charged  that  he  was  gathering  a  corruption  fund  in 
order  that  he  might  be  able  to  go  to  the  Capitol  and 
defeat  certain  bills  that  were  then  being  considered  by 


390  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

the  committees  of  the  legislature.     Indignant  at    the 
attack,  this  citizen  wired  to  Major  McLaughlin  as  follows: 

Brand  the  article  in  this  morning's  paper  false  as  hell!  Such 
tactics  will  act  as  a  boomerang.    I  am  coming  up  this  evening. 

Whereupon  Major  McLaughlin  promptly  wired  back: 

I  have  looked  all  over  Sacramento,  but  I  cannot  find  a  "false 
as  hell"  branding  iron.  I  would  like  to  help  you  propel  the  boom- 
erang, but  I  do  not  know  just  in  which  direction  to  throw  it.  Keep 
frappe,  old  man!  To-day's  newspapers  are  lost  in  starting  to-mor- 
row's fires. 

"You  may  fool  all  of  the  people  some  of  the  time;  you  may  fool 
some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time;  but  you  cannot  fool  all  of  the 
people  all  of  the  time." 

The  immortal  Lincoln!  What  a  world  of  emotion  that 
name  conjures  up!  No  wonder  all  of  his  biographers 
speak  of  the  sad  expression  of  his  countenance.  Was 
ever  mortal  man  so  vilified,  so  abused,  so  traduced,  so 
defamed  as  he  was  in  his  lifetime?  He  was  ridiculed, 
reviled,  and  lampooned  as  no  other  man  in  our  country's 
history.  Gibes  and  jeers  and  sneers  were  his  daily  por- 
tion in  the  newspapers  of  this  country,  and  even  in  some 
that  were  published  abroad,  during  the  whole  Civil  War. 
"The  baboon  at  the  other  end  of  the  avenue"  and  "That 
damned  idiot  in  the  White  House  "  were  some  of  the 
expletives  applied  to  him  by  the  muck-rakers  of  his  day. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  so  outraged  by  the  obloquies,  so 
stung  by  the  disparagements,  his  existence  was  rendered 
so  unhappy,  that  his  life  became  almost  a  burden  to 
him.  Lamon,  his  lifelong  friend,  says  that  one  day  he 
went  to  the  President's  office  and  found  him  lying  on 
the  sofa,  greatly  distressed.  Jumping  to  his  feet,  he 
said: 


JULIUS    KAHN  391 

You  know,  Lamon,  better  than  any  living  man  that  from  boy- 
hood up  my  ambition  was  to  be  President;  but  look  at  me.  I  wish 
I  had  never  been  born!  I  had  rather  be  dead  than  as  President 
be  thus  abused  in  the  house  of  my  friends. 

One  delegate  at  Chicago  declared  that  for  less  offenses 
than  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  guilty  of  the  English  people 
had  chopped  off  the  head  of  the  first  Charles.  Another 
arose  and  asserted  that 

Ever  since  that  usurper,  traitor,  and  tyrant  has  occupied  the 
presidential  chair  the  party  has  shouted,  "War  to  the  knife,  and 
the  knife  to  the  hilt!"  Blood  has  flowed  in  torrents,  and  yet  the 
thirst  of  the  old  monster  is  not  quenched.     His  cry  is  for  more  blood. 

But  why  continue  the  recital  of  the  calumnies,  the 
insinuations,  the  half-truths,  and  the  downright  lies  that 
were  printed  in  abuse  of  the  Great  Emancipator?  The 
muck-rakers  who  made  his  life  miserable  are  nearly  all 
rotting  in  forgotten  graves.  But  the  name  of  Lincoln 
will  shine  resplendent  through  all  the  ages.  As  long  as 
the  universe  shall  endure  he  will  tower,  giant-like,  above 
the  mere  pygmies  that  hurled  their  scurrility  at  him, 
and  the  story  of  his  life  will  prove  an  inspiration  to  mil- 
lions of  Americans  in  the  generations  yet  to  come. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  could  speak  at  great  length  of  the 
abusive  attacks  that  have  appeared  in  the  newspapers 
and  the  magazines  of  this  country  against  Grant,  and 
Garfield,  and  Cleveland,  and  McKinley,  aye,  and  against 
Theodore  Roosevelt.  They  had  their  detractors,  their 
defamers.  But  their  fame  rests  secure  in  the  hearts  of 
their  countrymen.  And  while  they  all  undoubtedly  felt 
the  injustice  of  the  poignant  shafts  of  abuse  that  were 
hurled  against  them  by  the  muck-rakers  of  their  respective 
periods,  who  to-day  cares  or  even  half-way  remembers 


392  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

what  was  the  nature  or  the  character  of  the  malicious 
onslaughts? 

And  so,  my  colleagues,  we,  too,  can  draw  this  moral 
from  the  lessons  taught  us  by  that  fact:  "To-day's  news- 
papers are  lost  in  starting  to-morrow's  fires." 


PROGRESSIVE  REPUBLICANISM 

MILES  POINDEXTER 
Congressman  from  the  State  of  Washington 

(Condensed  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives June,  1909.) 

Progressive  Republicanism  stands  for  the  conserva- 
tion of  the  natural  resources  of  the  Federal  domain  as 
opposed  to  the  stand-pat  policy  of  parceling  out  to 
private  interests,  without  restriction  and  without  ade- 
quate compensation,  these  vast  possessions  of  the  people. 
It  favors  the  extension  of  the  forest  reserve  system  into 
the  mountain  regions  of  the  East.  It  stands  for  strong 
and  effective  Government  control  of  railroads,  and  the 
regulation  of  rates  thereon,  as  opposed  to  the  reactionary 
policy  of  non-interference.  It  stands  for  competition  in 
trade  as  against  the  machine  policy  of  monopoly. 

We  are  in  favor  of  the  sane  and  wholesome  policy,  so 
successfully  inaugurated  by  ex-President  Roosevelt,  of 
dealing  with  wealthy  criminals  the  same  as  with  poor 
ones;  and  that  land  frauds,  rebates,  conspiracies  to 
defraud  the  customs  should  be  vigorously  prosecuted, 
and  that  the  principals,  as  well  as  the  tools  and  dummies, 
should  be  punished,  regardless  of  great  wealth  or  station. 


MILES    POINDEXTER  393 

Progressive  Republicanism  favors  a  liberal  and  business- 
like policy  of  internal  waterway  improvement.  It  advo- 
cates a  permanent  tariff  commission,  with  full  power  to 
investigate  and  report  all  facts  necessary  to  an  enlight- 
ened tariff  schedule,  rather  than  the  grab  and  barter 
system  of  Aldrich  and  Cannon. 

We  advocate  a  reorganization  of  the  United  States 
Senate  so  that  the  interests  and  the  sections  which  have 
so  long  entirely  controlled  it  shall  share  their  influence 
with  the  entire  country.  We  are  for  a  more  independent 
spirit  in  the  Senate,  in  the  place  of  a  spirit  of  subser- 
viency to  one  or  two  dictators. 

Progressive  Republicanism,  especially,  stands  for  a 
reorganization  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  so  that 
that  branch  of  Congress,  at  least,  shall  be,  as  it  was 
intended  to  be,  responsive  to  public  opinion.  As  it  is 
controlled  to-day  by  the  patronage  and  power  of  the 
Speaker,  it  is  wholly  unrepresentative. 

Progressive  Republicans  contend  and  know  that  the 
main  purpose  of  government  is  the  protection  of  the 
weak  against  the  strong,  and  that,  while  all  interests 
should  be  treated  with  justice,  the  central  principle  of 
all  legislation  should  be  the  public  good  and  not  private 
aggrandizement. 

We  have  come  to  a  point  when  the  doctrine  of  liberty 
has  been  construed  as  license  not  more  by  some  of  the 
lowest  elements  of  society  than  by  some  of  the  so-called 
highest.  We  have  come  to  a  point  when  some  private 
interests  vested  with  Government  franchises  have  become 
more  of  a  menace  to  individual  rights  than  the  Govern- 
ment ever  was,  and  the  peculiar  spectacle  is  witnessed 
of  a  people,  jealous  of  its  liberty,  seeking  to  enlarge  the 


394  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

powers  of  the  central  government  as  a  matter  of  self- 
protection.  It  is  the  only  recourse,  and  unless  that 
Government  in  all  its  branches  is  kept  perfectly  free 
from  the  control  of  the  great  powers  which  it  is  sought 
to  regulate  and  restrain,  there  is  no  redress  at  all. 


AMERICAN  CITY  GOVERNMENT 

BRAND  WHTTLOCK 

Mayor  of  Toledo,  Ohio 

(Extract  from  an  address  before  the  Chautauqua  Assembly, 
New  York,  July  27,  1909.) 

The  American  city  is  completely  under  the  yoke  of  a 
powerful  trio  of  despots:  the  rural  legislator,  the  political 
machine,  and  the  public-utility  corporation. 

The  country  man,  who  dominates  most  of  our  legis- 
latures, is  incompetent  to  legislate  for  the  city  because 
he  is  ignorant  of  the  conditions  for  which  he  is  making 
laws.  Many  of  the  men  passing  laws  regarding  street- 
cars in  our  legislatures  would  be  scared  to  death  if  they 
tried  to  get  on  one.  As  a  result  of  this  ignorance  the 
country  man  distrusts  the  city.  There  is  a  feeling,  as  old 
as  history,  that  for  some  reason  the  city  man  is  less  moral, 
less  able  to  know  what  is  good  for  him  than  the  country 
man.  As  a  result  there  has  been  a  great  mass  of  sump- 
tuary legislation  in  our  state  legislatures.  The  laws 
applying  to  cities  have  been  confined  to  legislation  intended 
to  make  the  city  good  without  thought  of  the  differences 
in  the  habits  and  modes  of  occupation  which  are  inevi- 
table.   They  have  passed  laws  governing  the  personal 


BRAND    WHITLOCK  395 

conduct  of  the  residents  in  the  city,  and  have  entirely 
ignored  the  real  problems  which  confront  it. 

The  notorious  misgovernment  of  American  cities  is 
brought  about,  in  large  measure,  by  the  politicians.  But 
there  is  no  use  in  blaming  the  political  boss.  We  made 
him.  He  is  a  product  of  yours  and  mine.  If  we  are  to 
eliminate  him  we  must  separate  along  local  lines  and 
not  along  the  imaginary  national  lines  which  now  separate 
the  parties.  The  parties  are  supposed  to  represent  prin- 
ciples. I  am  not  certain  just  what  these  principles  are, 
and  I  don't  think  anyone  else  is.  We  vote  for  them 
because  our  grandfather  voted  for  them.  Grandfather  is 
the  most  influential  man  dead,  and  he  is  a  great  deal 
more  influential  dead  than  he  was  alive.  It  is  this  auto- 
matic partisan,  on  whom  the  boss  can  count  to  appear 
on  election  day  and  vote  straight,  that  makes  the  lot 
of  the  boss  so  easy. 

Every  trail  of  graft  in  our  cities  leads  straight  to  the 
door  of  some  public-utility  corporation.  For  all  the 
graft,  corruption,  and  shame  in  our  American  cities 
the  money  has  come  from  their  coffers.  Some  men  are 
awfully  cheap  and  will  sell  themselves  for  an  invitation 
to  dinner,  or  some  social  distinction.  As  to  the  other 
forms  of  graft  that  now  exist  in  the  cities,  it  is  from  the 
public  utilities  that  they  learn  it.  When  the  councilmen 
have  sold  out  the  city's  rights  to  the  public-service  cor- 
porations, then  it  is  easy  for  them  to  sell  other  things. 
The  public-utility  interests,  the  street-car  companies, 
the  gas  companies,  and  the  rest  have  left  a  long  trail  of 
money-bribed  councilmen,  of  blasted  lives  of  shame  and 
ruin  in  their  wake  in  every  city  of  our  land.  The  city 
must  have  power  to  deal  adequately  with  the  public- 


396  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

utility  corporations.  It  should  be  allowed  to  pass  on 
the  laws  which  affect  it  by  means  of  the  referendum.  It 
should  be  permitted  to  frame  its  own  charter. 

What  the  American  city  must  develop  before  it  really 
becomes  a  city  is  a  city  sense,  a  sense  of  common  respon- 
sibility and  a  method  by  which  the  common  will  may 
express  itself. 


TRIBUTE  TO  GENERAL  LEW  WALLACE 

HENRY  A.   BARNHART 
Congressman  from  Indiana 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
February  26,  1910,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration,  by  the 
state  of  Indiana,  of  a  statue  of  General  Lew  Wallace  in  Statuary 
Hall.) 

Mr.  Speaker:  It  is  a  glorious  privilege  and  a  distin- 
guished honor  to  stand  in  this  Capitol,  a  representative 
of  the  people  of  this  great  nation,  and  assist  in  the  formal 
acceptance  by  our  country  of  the  statue  donated  by  my 
home  state  of  Indiana  to  perpetuate  the  conspicuous 
individuality  of  one  of  her  most  illustrious  sons  in  the 
world-renowned  Hall  of  Fame. 

To  those  of  us,  his  neighbors,  who  knew  General  Lew 
Wallace,  and  who  have  watched  with  unspeakable  pride 
the  growth  of  his  fame  to  world-wide  grandeur,  this 
memorial  in  perishable  marble  seems  commonplace,  for 
we  know  that  the  name  of  this  celebrated  soldier,  dip- 
lomat, and  author  is  written  on  the  hearts  of  his  country- 
men, never  to  be  effaced.    And  while  it  is  said  of  him 


HENRY   A.  BARNHART  397 

that  he  was  great  in  war  and  profound  in  statecraft,  the 
world  would  have  had  but  passive  paeans  of  praise  for 
him  except  for  the  beacon  light  he  gave  to  mankind  in 
his  story  of  the  Christ.  Of  all  his  literary  work,  in  "  Ben- 
Hur"  he  reached  the  zenith  of  his  fame,  the  triumph  of 
his  genius. 

Upon  the  windows  of  a  publishing  house  in  one  of  our 
great  American  cities  the  passer-by  may  read  the  words: 
"  Books  are  the  only  things  that  live  forever."  That  is 
a  noble  sentiment  though  but  a  partial  truth.  Books 
do  live  forever  —  that  is,  some  books.  And  so  do  folks 
—  that  is,  some  folks.  There  is  an  earthly  immortality. 
George  Eliot  writes  of 

"The  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence, 
In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like  stars, 
And  with  their  mild  persistence  urge  man's  search 
To  vaster  issues." 

Thought  is  immortal.  It  can  no  more  be  buried  than 
it  can  be  burned  or  hanged.  What  better  fame,  then, 
what  more  enduring  monument  can  a  man  have  than 
he  has  whose  thoughts  live  after  him,  whose  words  are 
lifted  up  like  banners  to  call  humanity  to  worthier  living? 
There  is  also  a  reflected  immortality  for  the  man  who 
makes  it  his  ministry  on  earth  to  search  out  the  best 
thoughts  of  others  and  give  them  to  the  race. 

And  so  "Ben-Hur"  reflects  the  aggressive  concept, 
the  dramatic  splendor,  and  the  sacred  trend  of  Lew 
Wallace's  life  standard.  In  this  he  gave  color  to  his 
admiration  for  conquest  in  the  "chariot  race";  to  his 
dramatic  art  in  the  thrilling  triumph  of  the  "  galley- 


398  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

slave";  and  to  his  religious  fervor  in  the  " Prayer  of  the 
Wandering  Jew." 

Perhaps  no  writer  of  modern  times  gained  so  wide  a 
reputation  on  so  few  books  or  began  his  literary  career 
so  late  in  life  as  did  the  author  of  "  Ben-Hur."  Moreover, 
no  other  writer  so  suddenly  leaped  into  such  fame  as  to 
at  once  class  him  among  the  typical  novelists  of  America. 
He  fixed  his  high  rank  in  the  galaxy  of  world-famed 
authors  at  a  single  show  of  talent,  and  his  name  is  written 
there  for  all  time. 

And  yet  is  it  said  of  him  that,  like  all  of  us,  he  was 
not  satisfied  with  his  achievements.  But  such  is  life  — 
yearning,  yearning,  yearning!  Wealth  does  not  satisfy, 
fame  does  not  satisfy,  literary  attainment  does  not  satisfy, 
travel  does  not  satisfy,  and  home  and  family  and  friends 
do  net  satisfy.  Nothing  suffices  for  the  heart's  longing 
except  the  consolation  furnished  by  the  world's  master- 
piece of  philosophy  —  the  Book  of  Life,  the  inspiration 
of  the  ennobling  narrative  of  " Ben-Hur:  A  Tale  of  the 
Christ." 

May  the  memory  of  Lew  Wallace,  Indiana's  illustrious 
author,  outlive  this  durable  cast  as  love  survives  mor- 
tality, and  may  the  creative  influence  that  gave  the 
world  such  authorship  and  citizenship  as  his  endure 
forever! 


ASBURY   F.  LEVER  399 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN 

ASBURY  F.   LEVER 
Congressman  from  South  Carolina 

(From  a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  March 
12,  19 10,  the  occasion  being  the  presentation,  by  the  state  of  South 
Carolina,  of  a  statue  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  to  be  placed  in  Statuary 
Hall.) 

Calhoun,  Webster,  Clay,  Benton:  this  roll  call  sounds 
the  depth  of  the  nation's  intellectual  pride.  The  legis- 
lative history  of  civilization  fails  to  furnish  a  quartet 
comparable  with  this  in  the  variety  of  its  talents,  the 
magnitude  of  its  genius,  the  wisdom  of  its  leadership, 
and  the  clearness  of  its  prophecy.  England's  masterful 
triumvirate  —  Burke,  Fox,  Pitt  —  measured  by  the 
standard  of  comparative  abilities  and  attainments,  must 
give  place  to  our  more  masterful  four. 

Of  this  splendid  galaxy,  this  inseparable  quartet  of 
political  philosophers,  none  irradiated  a  more  conspicuous 
and  constant  brilliancy  than  Mr.  Calhoun.  It  is  true  he 
did  not  possess  the  enormous  knowledge  of  Mr.  Benton, 
nor  the  highly  developed  perception  and  penetration  of 
Mr.  Clay,  nor  the  rich  imagery  and  almost  divine  proph- 
ecy of  Mr.  Webster;  but  in  the  domain  of  speculative 
philosophy  and  metaphysics  he  was  greater  than  all  com- 
bined. He  was  not  so  practical  as  Mr.  Benton,  nor  so 
dashing  a  parliamentary  leader  as  Mr.  Clay,  nor  so  incom- 
parable an  orator  as  Mr.  Webster;  but  as  a  logician  he 
is  unrivaled  among  the  sons  of  men. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  not  a  great  orator.    He  was  a  great 


400  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

speaker  and  an  unerring  analyst.  He  addressed  the 
intellect,  not  the  emotion.  The  marked  characteristic 
of  his  mind  was  its  power  of  analysis,  a  faculty  which, 
when  fully  developed,  constitutes  the  highest  order  of 
human  genius.  It  was  this  power  of  concentration,  this 
ability  to  see  beyond  the  intervening  rubbish  the  one 
object  for  investigation,  this  almost  superhuman  direct- 
ness of  perception,  that  was  his  greatest  strength  and  yet 
his  greatest  weakness.  Within  the  limits  of  his  vision 
he  was  without  a  peer;  but  it  is  asserted  that  the  safety 
of  his  leadership  and  the  soundness  of  his  theories  were 
impaired  by  the  narrowness  of  that  vision. 

He  saw  the  ship  of  state  swinging  down  the  encliffed 
channel  of  the  future,  saw  it  with  a  clearness  approaching 
the  supernatural;  saw  the  placid  waters  upon  which  it 
floated;  saw  the  hidden  rocks,  the  dangerous  shoals,  the 
roaring  cataract;  saw  them  as  no  other  man  of  his  time 
saw  them,  and  devoted  his  energies,  his  wonderful  powers, 
his  life  itself,  to  giving  her  safe  voyage.  For  him  the 
Constitution  had  marked  that  channel,  for  him  the  Con- 
stitution was  that  ship's  compass;  beyond  that  he  could 
not  and  did  not  see  —  the  pilotage  of  none  other  would 
he  trust.  In  his  own  language,  "To  restrict  the  powers 
of  this  Government  within  the  rigid  limits .  prescribed 
by  the  Constitution,"  this  was  the  chart  of  his  interpre- 
tation, the  embodiment  of  his  attitude.  By  this  he 
followed  his  course,  formulated  his  policies,  directed  his 
activities,  predicated  his  prophecies.  All  other  consider- 
ations were  subservient;  to  keep  "within  the  rigid  limits 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution' '  was  the  supremest 
thought  of  his  mind,  the  dearest  object  of  his  heart. 

A  course  moved  by  such  ends  necessarily  brought  male- 


ASBURY   F.  LEVER  401 

dictions  upon  him  and  necessitated  that  independence  of 
party  trammels  which  has  made  those  who  love  a  man 
admire  him  most.  Others  might  compromise  their  con- 
victions for  the  commendation  of  the  hour,  others  might 
swerve  from  the  path  of  duty  to  avoid  its  dangers,  others 
might  flee  from  the  wrath  of  public  opinion,  others  might 
be  deaf  to  the  pleadings  of  the  seers,  others  might  quail 
before  the  lightning  flash  of  the  hastening  storm,  others 
might  temporize  and  hesitate,  but  not  this  man  of  rugged 
courage  and  iron  independence. 

"He,  like  a  solid  rock  by  seas  inclosed, 
To  raging  winds  and  roaring  waves  exposed, 
From  his  proud  summit  looking  down,  disdains 
Their  empty  menace,  and  unmoved  remains." 

Upon  his  monument,  in  historic  St.  Phillip's  Church- 
yard, are  engraven  the  words,  "Truth,  Justice,  and  the 
Constitution."  Fittingly  they  comprehend  the  ideals  for 
which  he  wrought.  In  his  toilsome  pursuit  of  them  he 
disdained  the  allurements  of  ambition,  scorned  the  grovel- 
ing practises  of  smaller  men,  endured  without  murmur 
the  darts  of  misunderstanding,  the  shafts  of  misrepre- 
sentation, and  the  malignant  arrows  of  fanatical  hate. 
Unawed  and  unmoved  by  the  fury  of  conflicting  ideals, 
unterrified  by  the  menace  of  lowering  clouds,  unseduced 
by  the  beckoning  hand  of  preferment,  he  strode  forward, 
sometimes  the  popular  idol,  sometimes  alone,  always  self- 
reliant  in  the  strength  of  his  mighty  gianthood  —  the 
defender  of  truth,  the  champion  of  justice,  the  protagonist 
of  a  strict  and  literal  interpretation  of  the  Constitution. 


402  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

SCIENTIFIC  FARMING 

IRVING   BACHELLER 

Author  of  " Eben  H olden"  etc. 

(Extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Society,  New  York  city,  December  22,  1909.) 

There  are  some  who  say  that  the  "higher  education" 
has  gone  too  far,  but  I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  Yankee 
is  a  far-seeing  man.  He  has  observed  the  hordes  of 
human  oxen  pouring  in  from  Europe,  men  who  can  sleep 
in  a  pig  sty  and  dine  on  an  onion  and  a  chunk  of  bread, 
and  he  has  been  unwilling  to  enter  his  sons  in  that  sort 
of  competition;  and  so  he  has  sent  them  to  college.  Scien- 
tific farming  has  begun  to  pay.  I  know  a  farmer  whose 
income  would  excite  the  envy  of  high  finance.  He  said 
to  me:  "Don't  be  afraid  of  education;  the  land  will  soak 
up  all  we  can  get  and  yell  for  more."  My  friends,  if  I 
knew  half  the  secrets  in  ten  acres  of  land  I  believe  I 
could  make  my  fortune  off  them  in  five  years.  We  have 
sent  the  smart  boys  to  the  city,  and  we  have  kept  the 
fools  on  the  farm.  We  have  put  everything  on  the  farm 
but  brains.  Anybody  can  learn  Blackstone  and  Green- 
leaf,  but  the  book  of  law  that  is  writ  in  the  soil  is  only 
for  keen  eyes.  We  want  our  young  men  to  know  that 
it  is  more  dignified  to  search  for  the  secrets  of  God  in 
the  land  than  to  grope  for  the  secrets  of  Satan  in  a  law- 
suit. One  hundred  thousand  young  men  will  be  leaving 
college  within  a  year  from  now.  If  the  smartest  of  them 
would  go  to  work  on  the  land  with  gangs  of  these  human 
oxen  we  could  make  the  old  earth  lopsided  with  the 
fruitfulness  of  America. 


EDGAR    Y.  MULLINS  403 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  " hayseed"  is  no  more.  I 
propose  the  health  of  the  coming  farmer,  who  is  to  be  a 
gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  laird,  a  baron.  I  propose  the 
health  of  the  many  who  have  taught  and  shall  teach  him 

"  To  sow  the  seed  of  truth  and  hope  and  peace 
And  take  the  root  of  error  from  the  sod, 
To  be  of  those  who  make  the  sure  increase 
Forever  growing  in  the  lands  of  God." 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  RIGHTEOUSNESS 

EDGAR   Y.   MULLINS 

President  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 
Louisville,  Kentucky 

(The  concluding  part  of  a  baccalaureate  address  to  the  gradu- 
ating class  of  the  University  of  Texas,  1909.) 

We  live  in  a  wonderful  age.  Great  issues  are  before 
us.  There  lie  slumbering  to-day  in  secret  places  the 
twentieth-century  issues,  the  outcome  of  which  you  and 
I  do  not  dream,  and  the  question  for  everyone  of  us  is, 
what  part  shall  we  play  in  it,  when  there  comes  a  time 
to  decide  for  the  side  of  truth  or  falsehood,  some  great 
cause,  in  this  great  battle  for  righteousness  within,  right- 
eousness in  society,  righteousness  everywhere. 

In  the  book  of  Revelation  you  have  a  picture  of  the 
battle  for  righteousness.  Jesus  Christ  is  there  against 
all  forms  of  unrighteousness,  and  the  various  stages  in 
the  fight  are  depicted.  Sin,  defeated  in  one  form,  returns 
in  another.  The  thing  that  you  have  conquered  comes 
back  with  a  new  disguise.    The  old  appetite,  the  old 


404  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TODAY 

habit  comes  back  reenforced,  and  you  must  fight  it  down 
again.  In  one  place  locusts  represent  unrighteousness, 
and  they  are  substituted.  In  another  place  frogs  and 
loathsome  things  are  represented.  At  another  time  flies 
represent  unrighteousness.  At  another  time  a  wicked 
woman,  and  at  another  time  a  beast  with  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns;  and  at  last  there  comes  a  wicked  seed,  and 
the  sower  sows  the  wicked  seed,  and  this  seed  flourishes 
and  dominates  the  world.  Finally  there  comes  the  down- 
fall of  iniquity.  The  angel  descends  from  heaven  with 
a  stone  which  he  drops  into  the  sea,  and  as  he  drops  the 
stone  into  the  sea,  he  shouts,  "Babylon  has  fallen!" 
The  seer  then  sees  the  heavens  open,  and  he  sees  a  city, 
a  social  order,  a  realm  of  righteousness  coming  down  from 
God,  down  from  heaven  to  earth;  the  city  whose  gates 
are  of  pearl,  whose  walls  are  of  jasper,  whose  streets  are 
of  gold;  where  they  have  no  need  of  the  light  of  the  sun, 
for  the  Lord  God  is  the  light  thereof;  and  from  which  is 
banished  everything  that  loveth  a  lie  and  everything 
that  is  unclean,  and  everything  that  blasphemeth;  and 
at  last  man,  not  the  individual,  but  man  as  a  social 
order,  has  been  redeemed,  and  this  earth  becomes  a 
garden  spot  where  the  desert  had  reigned.  May  God 
help  us  to  play  our  part  in  the  great  drama  and  share  in 
the  glory  of  the  great  victory  at  the  end. 


WILLIAM    J.  BRYAN  405 


THE  PRINCE  OF  PEACE 

WILLIAM  J.   BRYAN 

(Extract  from  an  address  delivered  upon  numerous  occasions 
in  this  country  and  abroad.) 

Love  is  the  foundation  of  Christ's  creed.  The  world 
had  known  love  before;  parents  had  loved  children  and 
children,  parents;  husband  had  loved  wife  and  wife, 
husband;  and  friend  had  loved  friend;  but  Jesus  gave  a 
new  definition  of  love.  His  love  was  as  boundless  as 
the  sea;  its  limits  were  so  far-flung  that  even  an  enemy 
could  not  travel  beyond  it.  Other  teachers  sought  to 
regulate  the  lives  of  their  followers  by  rule  and  formula, 
but  Christ's  plan  was  first  to  purify  the  heart  and  then 
to  leave  love  to  direct  the  footsteps. 

What  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  life,  the 
teachings,  and  the  death  of  this  historic  figure  ?  Reared 
in  a  carpenter  shop;  with  no  knowledge  of  literature,  save 
Bible  literature;  with  no  acquaintance  with  philosophers 
living  or  with  the  writings  of  sages  dead,  this  young  man 
gathered  disciples  about  Him,  promulgated  a  higher 
code  of  morals  than  the  world  had  ever  known  before, 
and  proclaimed  Himself  the  Messiah.  He  taught  and 
performed  miracles  for  a  few  brief  months  and  then  was 
crucified;  His  disciples  were  scattered  and  many  of  them 
put  to  death;  His  claims  were  disputed,  His  resurrection 
denied,  and  His  followers  persecuted,  and  yet  from  this 
beginning  His  religion  has  spread  until  millions  take  His 
name  with  reverence  upon  their  lips  and  thousands  have 
been  willing  to  die  rather  than  surrender  the  faith  which 


406  AMERICAN  ORATORY  OF  TO-DAY 

He  put  into  their  hearts.  How  shall  we  account  for 
Him?  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  It  is  easier  to 
believe  Him  divine  than  to  explain  in  any  other  way 
what  He  said  and  did  and  was. 

I  was  thinking  a  few  years  ago  of  the  Christmas  which 
was  then  approaching,  and  of  Him  in  whose  honor  the 
day  is  celebrated.  I  recalled  the  message,  "Peace  on 
earth,  good-will  to  men,"  and  then  my  thoughts  ran 
back  to  the  prophecy  uttered  centuries  before  His  birth, 
in  which  He  was  described  as  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

All  the  world  is  in  search  of  peace;  every  heart  that 
ever  beat  has  sought  for  peace,  and  many  have  been  the 
methods  employed  to  secure  it.  I  am  glad  that  our 
Heavenly  Father  did  not  make  the  peace  of  the  human 
heart  depend  upon  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  or  upon 
the  securing  of  social  or  political  distinction,  for  in  either 
case  but  few  could  have  enjoyed  it,  but  when  He  made 
peace  the  reward  of  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
God  and  man,"  He  put  it  within  the  reach  of  all.  The 
poor  can  secure  it  as  easily  as  the  rich,  the  social  outcast 
as  freely  as  the  leader  of  society,  and  the  humblest  citizen 
equally  with  those  who  wield  political  power. 

As  the  Christian  grows  older  he  appreciates  more  and 
more  the  completeness  with  which  Christ  fills  the  require- 
ments of  the  heart  and,  grateful  for  the  peace  which  he 
enjoys  and  for  the  strength  which  he  has  received,  he 
repeats  the  words  of  the  great  scholar,  Sir  William  Jones: 

"Before  thy  mystic  altar,  heavenly  truth, 
I  kneel  in  manhood,  as  I  knelt  in  youth, 
Thus  let  me  kneel,  till  this  dull  form  decay, 
And  life's  last  shade  be  brightened  by  thy  ray." 


How  to  Appreciate 
THE    DRAMA 

By  THOMAS  LITTLEFIELD  MARBLE 
ILLUSTRATED  — $1.25,  postpaid  —  CLOTH,  GILT  TOP 

A  book  designed  for  lovers  of  the  drama  in  general, 
for  dramatic  societies,  for  the  study  sections  of  reading 
clubs,  as  well  as  for  classes  in  schools  and  colleges. 

The  subject  is  treated  from  the  standpoint  of  prac- 
tical dramaturgy,  the  desire  of  the  author  being  to 
point  out  the  fundamental  principles  which  underlie 
sound  dramatic  art  —  the  ultimate  purpose  being  to 
enable  those  who  are  yet  inexperienced  in  recognizing 
and  appraising  the  intrinsic  values  of  plays,  to  learn  to 
do  so  in  a  manner  reasonably  authoritative. 

The  book  contains  an  analytical  diagram,  suggestive  analyses  of 
four  classical  plays,  and  the  full  text,  with  marginal  annotations, 
of  "The  Cricket  on  the  Hearth,"  the  Screen  Scene  from  "The 
School  for  Scandal,"  and  the  Trial  Scene  from  "  The  Merchant  of 
Venice."    These  annotated  plays  are  an  open  sesame. 

Without  attempting  to  decide  the  moot  question 
whether  the  drama  should  be  treated  as  a  branch  of 
literature  or  as  an  independent  subject,  the  author 
shows  his  readers  how  to  appreciate  a  well  constructed 
play  quite  apart  from  its  purely  literary  value  and  its 
technique.  To  appraise  a  play,  to  "appreciate"  it  — 
the  author  hopes  that  an  attentive  perusal  of  this  book 
will  put  one  in  the  way  of  doing  just  that 

Teachers  who  have  directed  student  productions  of 
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Embellished  by  Portraits  of  28  Playwrights  and  Actors 

The  medallion  embossed  upon  the  cover  of  the  book  isthe 
device  of  THE  drama  society  and  is  used  by  permission. 


HINDS,  NOBLE  &  ELDREDGE    -    -    Publishers  of 

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(acorn*  Tax  Injunction  by  Court* 

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Abandonment  of  Protection  Federal  Control  of  Railroad* 

No  Tariff  on  Raw  Material  Restriction  of  Immigration 

Conservation  Nat'I  Resources        Asset  Currency 
Initiative  and  Referendum  Labor  Union*  Beneficial  7 

The  Short  Ballot  Armed  Intervention 

Recall  of  Judge*  Increased  Navy 

Commission  City  Government       Guarantee  of  Bank  Deposit* 
The  Direct  Primary  Popular  Election  of  Senator* 

The  Minimum  Wage  Annexation  of  Cuba 

Open  v*.  Closed  Shop  Ship  Subsidies 

H  Decision  in  Jury  Trial*  Gov't  Ownership  of  Mine* 

The  Central  Bank  Postal  Savings  Bank* 

Parliamentary  vs.  Presidential  Government 
Bank  Note*  Secured  by  Commercial  Paper 
Federal  Charter  for  Interstate  Business 
Educational  Qualification  for  Suffrage 
Appointment  vs.  Election  of  Judge* 


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Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
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